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LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



OF 



ANDREW JOHNSON, 

SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 




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LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



ANDREW JOHNSON, 

SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



INCLUDING HIS 



Mt liters, SSgcctjjcs attb %Wa$st$. 



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By JOHN SAVAGE, 

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AUTHOR OF "OUK LIVING REPRESENTATIVE MEN," ETC. 



WITH AN ACCURATE PORTRAIT ON STEEL BY RITCHIE 



AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 



NEW YORK: 

DERBY & MILLER, PUBLISHERS, 

No. 5 SPRUCE STREET. 

1866. 



»w 






z-6. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SC5, by 

DERBY & MILLER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the- District Court of the United States for the Southern 

District of New York. 



nfw yobk; 

EPWAltn O. JENKINS, PK1NTER, 
20 NORTH WILLIAM ST. 



PREFACE 



In a work published in 1860, designed to present facts 
more than opinions, the writer presented a sketch of the 
subject of the accompanying Memoir, as one of the promi- 
nent Statesmen of the Republic upon whom the Presidential 
mantle might fall. In 1864, during the Presidential cam- 
paign, he wrote for the publishers of this work an enlarged, 
though still circumscribed, " Life and Services of Andrew 
Johnson," in which, however, as a " War Democrat," he felt 
not only at liberty, but compelled, to express a profound ad- 
miration for the daring intellect and the harassing though 
heroic labors which distinguished the invincible Southern 
champion of the Union. 

After the stupefaction which possessed all heads and 
hearts at the assassination of Mr. Lincoln had been some- 
what removed by the imperative necessities of the hour, the 
present work was suggested : and undertaken the more 
readily in the belief that the author could in no way more 
usefully add to such efforts as he devoted to the Union 

cause than by presenting to the public the record of a life 

(3) 



4 PREFACE. 

which so wonderfully illustrated the generous influences of 
Democratic institutions. 

ISTo life more eminently illustrates the blessings of the 
American system than that of Andrew Johnson in the past ; 
and it is not too much to say that the moral sense of justice 
which guided, the mental faculties which sustained, and the 
accumulating experiences which accompanied his upward 
and honorable struggle, are, combined in the person of a 
Chief Magistrate, the very first and best possessions of a 
people passing through a crisis like the present. 

To the people, and the children of the people everywhere, 
a career such as is here, however inadequately, portrayed, 
is an unanswerable incentive to faith in Republicanism ; 
while to citizens of the Republic it is equally unanswerable 
as an argument for the integrity of the Union. Union is 
the inspiration and bulwark of our institutions. The checks 
it imposes and the license it allows, the respect it commands 
and the equality it confers, work with a harmony which 
nothing less strongly symmetrical could evoke, and anything 
more exacting could not control. These apparent contra- 
dictions in our system astonish Europe and compel' it, while 
the Union triumphs, to acknowledge that Republicanism is 
not only a theory, but that man is capable of self-govern- 
ment. 

The record of the public services of the President of the 
United States is therefore presented to the People from 
whom Andrew Johnson sprung. The documents from which 
ih" central narrative is drawn arc partly original, and ail 
authentic. In addition, a residence of nearly five years in 



PREFACE. 5 

Washington, engaged in the active duties of journalism dur- 
ing an era of deep interest and political excitement, made 
the author acquainted with sources of information, and led 
to a daily observation of prominent men and important 
measures, the results of "which have been used to make the 
running history of events, and of contemporaneous political 
leaders, as full as the nature of the work allowed. 

Every important speech of President Johnson, with 
numerous minor though characteristic addresses, and every 
measure with which his name is associated, are represented 
here : together with views of debates in Congress and inci- 
dents connected therewith ; making, it is hoped, an accepta- 
ble contribution to the political history of the time, and a 
comprehensive picture of the life and labors, the mind and 
mettle of the Statesman upon whom at this moment the eyes 

of civilization are intently centered. 

J. S. 
Fordham, N. Y., 1865. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGB 

Pkeface 1 



CHAPTER I. 
1803 to 1833 13 

CHAPTER II. 
1834 to 1845 26 

CHAPTER III. 
1845 to 1857 37 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Homester Bill. 1857-1858 51 

CHAPTER V. 
Homestead Bill — Continued. 1860 72 

CHAPTER VI. 

Retkenchment 98 

(9) 



10 COXTEXTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

Retrenchment en Government Expenditures . . .118 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Slavery Question 139 

CHAPTER IX. 
Johnson's Compeers en the United States Senate . . 149 

CHAPTER X. 
TnE Presidential Conventions op 1860 .... 178 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Development op Disunion 186 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Development op Disunion — Continued . . . 199 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Johnson on the Right op Secession. Great Speech op 

December 18th and 19th, 1860 211 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Secession. Break up of Buchanan's Cabinet . . . 220 

CHAPTER XV. 
Terrorism in Tennessee 234 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Johnson Military Governor of Tennessee . . . 248 



COXTEXTS. 11 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PAGE 

Johnson's Administration in Tennessee — Continued . . 269 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Nomination of Johnson for Vice-Presidency . . . 285 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Candidates and Canvass of 1864 .... 301 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Rebellion Ended. Lincoln Assassinated. Johnson 

President 323 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Johnson as President. End of Armed Rebellion . . 334 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Reconstruction of the Southern States .... 370 

Appendix . 1 



CONTENTS OF APPENDIX, 



Speech in Reply to Senator Lane of Oregon in the 

Senate of the United States, March 3, 1861 . . 12 
Secession of Tennessee, Documents Relating to .15 
Speech on the War for the Union in the Senate of 

the United States, July 26, 27, 1861 .... 20 
Speech on the Proposed Expulsion of Mr. Jesse D. 

Bright ln the United States Senate, Jan. 31, 1862. 63 
President Johnson's Opinion of the Use of Ardent 

Spirits 87 

The Home of Andrew Johnson 88 

Order Relating to the Settlement of the Freedmen . 90 

Speech to the Negro Soldiers, Oct. 10, 1865 ... 90 

President Paroles A. H. Stephens and Others . . 95 
Proclamation Rescinding Martial Law in Kentucky, 

Oct. 12 95 

Interview of the South Carolina Delegation with 

the President 97 

The President to South Carolina Convention . . 100 
The President on Restoration and the Status of the 

Negro 100 

The President on the Rebel War Debt .... 103 
Reception of the Embassy from Tunis . . . .104 

The President and the Fenians 105 

Thanksgiving for Peace ^nd Union 106 

The President to Governor Humphreys, of Mississippi 107 

Revocation of Rewards 108 

The President to Governor Holden, of North Caro- 
lina 108 

Governor Holden to the President .... 109 
Proclamation restoring the Writ of Habeas Corpus 

in Certain States 109 

President's Message, Opening of the Thirty-ninth Con- 
gress, Dec. 5, 1865 110 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 



CHAPTER I. 
\ 1808 to 1833. 

His Birtii — Orphanage — Apprenticeship — Early Struggles for knowledge — 
Journeyman — Goes to Greenville, Tenn. — Marries — Progress in Educa- 
tion — Rewards of Industry — Alderman —In a Debating Society — His Lit- 
tle House on the Hill and his Great Book — Re-elected Alderman — Mayor 
I ir Three Terms — Views of Nullification in 1832. 

Andrew Johnson was born at Raleigh, N. C, on the 
29th of December, 1808. His father, a man in humble life, 
but of noble nature, dying from exhaustion, after having 
saved Colonel Thomas Henderson, editor of the Raleigh 
Gazette, from drowning, left his son an orphan, before lie 
had completed his fifth year.* The sad event of his fathers 
death made the energies of the child necessary to his own 
support, and a trade was the most reliable resource. He 
was accordingly, at the age of ten years, apprenticed to a 
tailor, in his native town. 

Thus commenced the struggle of the future patriot and 
President in the battle of life, the very outset of his manly 
career indicating the energy and self-reliance which has so 
distinguished it, and which offer such hopeful examples to 
the great mass of our youth, who can only be nerved for the 
life-struggle by stout hearts and honest purposes. 

* The following obituary notice of the father of the President, is taken from 
an old Raleigh (N. C.) paper, dated January 10, 1812: 

" Died, in this city, on Saturday last, Jacob Johnson, who had for years occu- 
pied a humble but useful station in Society. He was city constable, sexton, 
and porter to the State Bank. In his last illness he was visited by the principal 
inhabitants of the city, by all of whom he was esteemed for his honesty, indus- 
try, and humane and friendly disposition. Among all to whom he was known 
and esteemed none lament him more (except, perhaps, his relatives) than the 
publisher of this paper; for he owes his life, on a particular occasion, to the 
boldness and humanity of Johnson." 



1 4 LIFE AND P UBLIG SEE VICES 

At this period of his life the nature of Andrew Johnson 
unfolded itself, in the gradual development of characteristics 
which, under proper direction, are the sure guarantees of 
success to the possessor. While notably patient in the pur- 
suit, and attentive to the routine of his occupation, he occa- 
sionally betrayed that waywardness which is a phase only 
of the self-will and resolution so attractively prominent in 
the lives of all self-made men. Even as a boy, Andrew 
Johnson could see no difficulties in the way of any purpose 
upon which he had cast his heart ; could meet no oppression 
which his spirits would not surmount. He might be disap- 
pointed, but could not be defeated. If he were thwarted 
one day, he tried again the next. Obstacles only excited 
his energies, and where he tumbled to-day he would triumph 
to-morrow. These characteristics of boyhood are not with- 
out deep significance in contemplating the life of such a 
man as Johnson. He never had the benefit of one dav's 
school routine in his life, and in no instance was the leading- 
feature of his character more worthily brought into promi- 
nent action than in the determination to achieve by perse- 
verance the benefits denied by poverty. 

The necessity which apprenticed him at such an early 
age, and the indenture which bound him, equally and effect- 
ually deprived him of all advantages for education. He 
saw this : the boy craved for knowledge, and was resolved 
to attain some means to its possession — a resolution excited 
and concentrated by occurrences which arc worthy of par- 
ticular mention. 

There was at this time a gentleman in Raleigh who was 
in the habit of visiting the tailor's shop, and of reading 
aloud while the journeymen and apprentices were at work. 
His favorite book was a volume of speeches, embracing many 
of eminent British orators and statesmen ; the beauties of 
which were enhanced by the admirable style and emphasis 
of the reader. Young Johnson became interested, and his 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 15 

first ambition was to equal the visitor as a reader, and 
become familiar with those speeches which had a special 
effect on his mind'. He took up the alphabet without an 
instructor ; but he obtained assistance by applying now to 
one journeyman and then to another. Having acquired a 
knowledge of the letters, he desired to borrow the book 
which he had so often heard read and in which he was so 
profoundly interested. The owner, however, kindly made 
him a present of it, with the additional gift of some instruc- 
tion on the use of letters in the formation of words. Thus 
it may be said, he learned to spell and read at the same time 
in that book. As may be imagined, the difficulties were 
great, but by close application he soon learned to read with 
considerable facility. 

The new and dazzling region of enjoyment thus opened 
to young Johnson's vision, dispelled the sense of drudgery 
by which it was won ; and inspired him with an insatiate 
and restless anxiety to explore the mines of knowledge 
which lay sealed up in books. Working, steadily, from 
ten to twelve hours daily, the desire to refresh himself at 
the intellectual springs of greatness could receive but little 
gratification. The thirst for knowledge, however, must at 
least find some appeasement ; and the apprentice, after his 
labor was done, devoted a couple of hours nightly to the 
still widening fascination of books. 

In the autumn of 1824 the term of his apprenticeship 
expired, and he entered the world without a cent as a basis 
of action ; but with a trade, rich in energy, and sensitive 
with the anxieties of an education begun and continued 
under exacting difficulties.* 

* Mr. Litchford, an old journeyman tailor of Raleigh, foreman in the shop 
where young Johnson partially learned his trade, gives some reminiscences of 
the youth of the President of the United States, which, while not differing in 
any material way with the narrative in the text, adds in a very racy manner 
some details accounting for the apprentice's movements; and are altogether 
characteristically illustrative of that period of his life. Mr. Litchford thinks it 



16 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

We next find young Johnson as a working journeyman — 
a love story, which his celebrity since has brought to light, 
tracing him to the vicinity of Laurens Court House? 
S. C. Here, as the story goes, he fell in love with an 
estimable young lady ; but he was a stranger — he was poor, 
he was young, not yet near out of his teens ; and he passion- 
ately fled away from what to him seemed cold hearts and 
pitying smiles, which his youthful sensitiveness could 
brook less patiently than open sneers. However naturally 
unpleasant such an episode to a young and ambitious man, 
the sensitiveness which renders it annoying also furnishes to 
a man of strong will, pride to overcome its results. Instead 
of depressing young Johnson's spirits, it gave him strength 
of purpose to lift himself above the circumstances of the 
occasion. 

He returned to Raleigh in May, 1826, procured journey 
work, and remained there until the September following, 
when he turned his footsteps westward, taking with him his 

was in 1S18 that " Andy," as he called him, was bound apprentice to J. J. Selby. 
He is described as a wild " harum-scarum boy," but had no " wnhonorable traits 
about him." He was exceedingly restless, and his activity iu climbing fences, 
trees, etc., with the natural sequence thereof of tearing his clothing, was a great 
source of trouble to his mistress. On account of his propensities in this direc- 
tion, she once made him a coarse, heavy shirt of homespun goods, and the young 
gentleman for a short time \tas obliged to wear a whole undergarment. In 
1821 he " cut," not because he was sent to a corn-field to work, as some one has 
said, but on account of a " scrape with a lady by the name of Wells, who had 
two right smart daughters." With another boy, named Grayson, an apprentice 
in a rival shop, Andy "chunked the old lady's house" one Saturday night. 
Next day she heard who it was, and threatened to " persecute them on Monday." 
They heard of it and "cut." Mr. Litchford believes " he knew his A B C's 
when he came to the shop, but I think I taught him to read." Mr. Litchford 
continued, "and he deserves unbounded credit, for some people say as how 
they had a grand start, and I reckon he started underground." He went to 
South Carolina, and returned after a year and a-half, during which time he had 
earned his living with his needle. On his arrival he applied to Mr. Litchford, 
then keeping an establishment of his own, for work, but didn't get it because he 
had been " advertised" as a runaway, and the law prevented any one from har- 
boring him, Mr. Selby had, during Andy's absence, sold out and moved into 
the country; but, with a desire to make due amends for his misdemeanor, the 
runaway walked twenty miles to see him and tried to make arrangements to 
pay him for his time. Mr. Selby required security, and Andy could not get it. 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON 1 7 

mother, who was wholly dependent on him for support ; and 
whom, to his glory and honor be it said, he always tenderly, 
and as his fortune increased, handsomely supported until her 
death. He stopped at Greenville, Tenn., commenced work 
as a journeyman, and counted the close of his eighteenth 
year. His good star had led him thither. He remained in 
Greenville about a year, married a most worthy lady, and 
pushed still further West in search of fortune. Failing to 
find a suitable place to settle, he returned to Greenville and 
commenced business, his industry and energy intensified 
by the family cares he had undertaken. I have said his 
good star led him to Greenville, and truly ! for there the 
youth found a wife who became his Egeria. 

Up to this time his education was limited to reading. 
We have seen the difficulties under which that was accom- 
plished. He had no opportunity of learning how to write 
or of becoming acquainted with the mysteries of arithmetic. 
Under the loving tutelage of his excellent wife, he soon 

He told Mr. Litchford that he wouldn't let him be security if he would, and so 
he departed again, this time going to Tennessee. Mr. Litchford next heard of 
him as a Member of Congress from that State, but didn't believe it was " his 
boy Andy" until he saw it " advertised in the papers, about the mechanics in 
Congress, and saw the word ' tailor' after his name." A pamphlet copy of one of 
his speeches, sent to Mr. Litchford under his Congressional frank, is yet in the 
possession of the latter. 

After his tirst session he returned to Raleigh and made a speech, " pitching 
into Parson Brownlow and Gales, the editor of the Register." It seems that 
Brownlow, a political opponent of Johnson at that time, had sent to Gales for 
" family items." Gales furnished them, and hence Johnson's attack on him 
and Brownlow. The citizens at Raleigh at that time thought it something re- 
markable that the " tailor's apprentice" of their recollection should be able to 
make such a speech, but Johnson told Mr. Litchford " how it was." His wife 
had " learned him" while he was on the tailor's board working for his bread in 
Tennessee. During this visit, Mr. Johnson asked Litchford to show him his 
father's grave, and he did so. It has but a plain gray-stone slab at the head, 
and simply marked "J. J.," and is nearly hidden from view by the overgrowth 
of weeds and brambles. 

The house in which President Johnson was born is still standing, and is an 
object of no little curiosity to the many strangers who visit Raleigh. It is a 
small frame building, a story and a-half high, containing only two or three 
rooms. Relic mongers have already commenced tearing oft' the weather-beaten 
sideboards. 



18 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

wielded the pen and the slate pencil ; and these doors being 
open, she soon presented him at other shrines of useful 
knowledge. The time at his disposal for study was now 
more limited than ever ; family responsibilities and an open- 
ing and growing business demanded almost his every hour. 
But diligent application, a keen economy of time, his wife 
reading to and instructing him while at work, and the pur- 
suit of education late at night, when the day's work was 
over and the village wrapped in sleep, vouchsafed unto him 
just rewards for his manual and his mental labors. His 
business and his brain increased in strengtli together, and 
the result was an humble competency of domestic comfort 
from the one, and from the other, besides its intrinsic value, 
a light by which to judge and appreciate the manly dignity 
of labor. In a previous sketch of the subject of this Me- 
moir,* I indicated the romantic interest attaching to this 
period of Johnson's life : 

" What material for the romancist might be found in the 
history of those days of the future Senator ; when his wife, 
fondly leaning by the side of the youth who was earning 
bread for her, taught him to read, and decked with the fair 
flowers of a healthy education the hitherto neglected garden 
of liis brain ! What a group ! what a study ! — the youth's 
fingers mechanically plying the needle, his brain alive, fol- 
lowing the instructions of his wife-teacher, or with a bright, 
almost childish, satisfaction meeting her approval of his cor- 
rect answers ! After work-hours she taught him to write. 
What a living, ennobling romance was there being enacted 
in the wilds of Tennessee thirty years ago ! But we must 
hurry over this chapter of our hero's history with a mere 
suggestive sentence. Young Johnson worked at liis trade 
with great industry and attention, extending, meanwhile, the 
advantages which his capacity for knowledge presented. 
The shop-board was the school where he received the rudi- 

* " Our Living Representative Men." Philadelphia, 1860. 



OF ANDREW JOUNSOK 19 

ments of his education, which he afterward, in rare leisure 
moments and in the deep silence of the midnight hours, 
applied to the attainment of a more perfect system. 

"The disadvantages of his position would have discour- 
aged almost any other man, certainly with any other kind 
of a wife. But, cheered by his excellent companion and 
prompted by his own desire for self-improvement, young 
Johnson brought an energy to the difficulties before him 
which nothing could repress or conquer. It is not a matter 
of surprise that he Avas hostile to every proposition that 
would give power to the few at the expense of the many ; 
that his hard and yet bright experiences made him the ex- 
ponent of the wants and power of the working class." He 
felt the force of the truth so eloquently expressed by another 
workingman, J. dc Jean (Ffraser), one of the poets of the 
Irish movement of 1848 : 

" "When, by th' almighty breath of God 

Each to its sphere was hurled — 
The living creature — and the clod — 

The atom — and the world — 
As trusted viceroy on the earth, 

To carry out the plan 
For which He gave that globe its birth, 

God formed the Working-man." 

Johnson soon gave voice to the feelings of the working- 
men in Greenville. He made them conscious of their 
strength and proud of it, in opposition to the aristocratic 
coterie which had until then ruled the community, so that no 
man who worked for his livelihood could bo elected even 
an alderman. With the dawning vision of intellect and 
self-reliance he saw that all this was wrong, and he deter- 
mined, with the aid of his fellow-workers, to right it. Meet- 
ings were held in every part of the town, and the result was 
the election (in 1828) of the young tailor to the office of 
alderman by a triumphant majority. How proud the good 
wife must have felt ! 



20 LIFE AFD PUBLIC SERVICES 

About this time, or a little later probably, a debating 
society was formed by the young men in the neighborhood 
of Greenville, and in connection with Greenville College. 
In it Johnson distinguished himself and made many friends. 
A collegian of the period gives us some brief reminiscences 
which not only exhibit our hero's persistent endeavors to 
cultivate his mind, but also present a suggestive glimpse of 
the domicile and workshop which sheltered his aspiring 
genius. 

In the romantic valley, says our informant, between the 
Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains, where the first settle- 
ments were made in Tennessee, we may, by looking at 
the map, find a small town in Green County called Green- 
ville, near the Nolichucky River. Four miles from this 
county site is Greenville College, the first institution of the 
kind established in the State. 

While in this college the whilom student became ac- 
quainted with a young man who lived in the suburbs of 
Greenville. " Though not a regular member of the school," 
he writes, " he belonged to the polemic society connected 
with the institution. To attend these meetings he walked 
the four miles out and back every week. I well remember 
his fascinating manners, -his natural talent for oratory, his 
capacity to draw the students around him, and make all of 
them his warm friends." 

On going into town, on errands of pleasure or business, 
the students used to linger at the humble abode of the young 
village Demosthenes ; and the one who records these inter- 
esting facts, gives us a graphic picture of its situation and 
interior : 

" On approaching the village, there stood on the hill by 
the highway a solitary little house, perhaps ten feet square. 
We invariably entered when passing. It contained a bed, 
two or three stools and a tailor's platform. Here we de- 
lighted to stop, because one lived here whom we knew out- 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS OK 2 1 

side of school, and made us welcome ; one who would amuse 
us by his social good nature, taking more than ordinary 
interest in catering to our pleasure. Tempusfugit ! Three 
or four hundred college inmates returned to their homes, 
mostly in the vicinity. Our young friend became a candi- 
date for the Legislature to represent that district ; was 
elected about the year 183S, if I correctly remember.'" This 
young man was Andrew Johnson, who has been in public 
office ever since, rising regularly by gradation to the high- 
est gift in the land." 

This Greenville debating society, hugged in the romantic 
grasp of the Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains, was 
doubtless to Andrew Johnson what The Devils, The Robin 
Hood and the Brown Bear, had been to " Stuttering Jack 
Curran," in the wilderness of London, when that strug- 
gling youth was seeking utterance for the expression of his 
nature and powers.f If, like the latter, young Johnson did 
not complete his education for the Senate in the debating 
society, he at least continued it there, and began to under- 
stand his own powers and to use them in a more correct 
and finished form than heretofore. 

His recently acquired book culture, of course, enriched 
while it gave a vivid impetus to the native force of his mind, 
and it was not long before he displayed a striking aptitude 
for debate. The style and manner of the able statesmen, as 
conveyed in the volume presented by his Raleigh friend, 
remained in his mind, and his own thoughts struggling 
through took form and color from their influence. This vol- 

* It was some three years earlier. 

t A most amusing account is given by Curran of his early efforts in the de- 
bating clubs of London, of his first dilfideuce and confusion, and his final suc- 
cess. " Here (at The Devils of Temple Bar), warned by fatal experience that 
a man's powers may be overstrained, I at first confined myself to a simple 'Ay 
or No,' and by dint of practice and encouragement, brought my tongue to recite 
these magical elements of parliamentary eloquence with ' such sound emphasis 
and good discretion,' that in a fortnight's time I had completed my education 
for the Irish Senate." — Life of Curran by his Son. Dr. Mackenzie's ed. 1855. 



22 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ume had been at once a mentor and a mine to him. His 
mind was perfectly fresh when he grasped it ; and he read 
the various beauties in by the light which itself had fur- 
nished. He became imbued with the style, language and 
sentiments of the volume. It gave him his first lessons in 
the science of government ; presented a vast amount of 
knowledge of an important nature, displayed in the most 
persuasive array in illustration of the great questions dis- 
cussed ; and exhibited to him the most prominent and able 
examples of public discussion. Thus, through the power of 
Chatham, the solidity of Burke, the popular acumen of Er- 
ski.no, the vehemence of Fox, the brilliancy of Sheridan, and 
the characteristics of other distinguished orators and parlia- 
mentarians, he was brought into communion with the graces 
which are put forth to captivate a hearer, the varied forces 
necessary to overwhelm an opponent, and the resources 
which arc evoked to dignify one's self in debate. This 
volume moulded into form, and inspired into suitable action 
the elements of his mental character, and thus laid the 
foundation of his fame and fortune. It is no wonder that 
he never ceased to deeply appreciate its value. Among 
the results of the rebellion was the destruction of his private 
library and the loss of this prized volume, the cherished 
companion of his early youth and founder of his fortune. 

There is a peculiar significance attached to the works 
which have been the favorites of distinguished men We 
are always glad to know the authors who have been the 
chosen companions of great literary, political or military 
characters — to know that the selecting and copying of 
religious poetry was an instinct with "Washington in youth, 
indicating the gravity of his manhood ; that among the 
books selected by Napoleon Bonaparte for his Egyptian 
expedition, Ossian and his Gaelic heroes were equally promi- 
nent with Twrenne and a Treatise on Artillery ; and that An- 
drew Jackson read The Vicar of Wakefield through, if. as is 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS OK 2 3 

said, he never read any other work. In view of the great 
effect produced on Mr. Johnson's mind and career by the 
book alluded to, I am happy to add a couple of facts in this 
connection on the best authority.* The exact title of 
the work was The American Speaker, published in 1810. 
His favorite speeches were those by Pitt and Fox. The 
former who, as he said in the reply to Walpole, labored 
under " the atrocious crime of being a young man ;" would 
naturally awaken the sympathy of a youth weighed down 
by circumstances ; but that which most particularly im- 
pressed him was Fox on Democracy. 

Mr. Johnson's triumph over the aristocracy in 1828 was 
ratified by subsequent re-elections in 1829 and 1830, and his 
being chosen Mayor of Greenville in the latter year, a posi- 
tion he held for three terms. Strengthened by success, 
through their ardent advocate, the workingmen felt and 
assumed their power ; and their antagonists, wearying of 
the contest so gallantly conducted, admitted the representa- 
tives of the mechanics to their legitimate influence in the 
councils. 

Thus, in his onward career, Mr. Johnson illustrated the 
ennobling fact that energy and self-roliance are the surest 
means by which an aristocratic, idle and overbearing class 
are made to respect the claims and fear the united action 
of the honest and upright people who live by the sweat of 
their brows. Journalists, North and South, in the interest 
of spurious aristocracy and disloyal speculators, have sneer- 
ingly referred to Johnson's early life, as though in America 
it were a disgrace to live honestly, and assert one's inde- 
pendence in the noblest way it can be asserted, by contribut- 
ing to the social and moral character of the community by 
industry and honest labor. These flippant apologists of 

* The author takes pleasure iu stating that the interesting information was 
received by him from Mr. Johnson since his elevation to the Presidency, in 
response to inquiries made on the subject. 



24 LIFE AXE PUBLIC SERVICES 

idleness and aristocracy sneer at Mr. Johnson because he 
was born poor and became not in his youth a burden on his 
neighbors ; and at the same time are vociferous in declaring 
they are the followers of Jefferson, who, in the Declaration 
of Independence, asserted the truth to be self-evident " that 
all men are created equal." 

As Madison said, in 1832, " It is remarkable how closely 
the Nullifiers (secessionists), who make the name of Jeffer- 
son the pedestal for their colossal heresy, shut their eyes 
and lips whenever his authority is ever so clearly and 
emphatically against them." But we can scarcely expect the 
enemies of the Republic to be the friends of those who 
made the Republic great — the workingmen ! 

It was about this time, and before Johnson had fairly 
made his entree into the public arena, that the Nullification 
controversy arose between the Federal Government and 
the State of South Carolina ; and it became necessary for 
Andrew Jackson, then President of the United States, to 
issue his proclamation exhorting the South Carolinians to 
obey the law, and comply with the requirements of the 
Constitution.* As he has since told us, in the great de- 
bate in the Senate, February, 1861 — when lie vindicated 
the action previously taken by him against the traitors, 

* Jackson's first bomb-shell into the ranks of the Nullifiers was his cele- 
brated toast— "Oca Federal Union: it Must be Preserved" — given at the 
Anniversary Celebration of Jefferson's Birthday, in Washington, April 13, 1830. 
An interesting account of which, by his Secretary, Major Lewis, is quoted by 
Parton. Lewis also relates a suggestive scene which occurred in Jackson's 
office, between him and a South Carolina member of Congress, who called to 
take his leave. " The General received him with great kindness, offering his 
hand, and begging him to be seated. After a few minutes of conversation, the 
member rose, and remarked to the General that he was about to return to 
South Carolina, and desired to know if he had any commands for his friends 
in that quarter. The General said, * No, I believe not ;' but immediately re- 
calling what he had said, remarked: ' Yes, I have; please give my compli- 
ments to my friends in your State, and say to them, that if a single drop of blood 
shall be shed in opposition to the laws of the United States, I will hang the 
first man I can lay my hand on engaged in such treasonable conduct upon the 
first tree I can reach.' " — Tarton's Life of Jackson, Vol. in. 



OF AXDBEW JOUXSOK 25 

on that floor — Johnson then planted himself upon the 
principles announced by General Jackson. He believed 
the positions then taken by the soldier of two wars for the 
independence of the United States, were the true doctrines 
of the Constitution, and the only doctrines upon which the 
Government could be preserved. From that period to the 
present, lie has been uniformly opposed to the doctrine 
of secession or of nullification. He believed it a heresy in 
1833, an element which, if maintained, would result in the 
destruction of the Government. In 1860-61 he maintained 
the same doctrine, and, in so maintaining, flung himself 
boldly and heroically against the traitor phalanx on the 
floor of the Senate. 



CHAPTEE II. 

1834 to 1845. 

Continued Confidence in Him — Elected to the Legislature — Opposes the 
"Internal Improvement" Scheme — Its Temporary Popularity and His 
Defeat on the Issue — His Views Vindicated — Re-election — Presidential 
Elector — Elected to the State Senate — Sent to the United States Congress 
— Defends Jackson — Taxes and Texas — Favors Retrenchment aud An- 
nexation — Gallant Defence of the Catholics, and Advocacy of Civil and 
Religious Liberty. 

The results of Mr. Johnson's reforms in Greenville were 
extensively felt in the community, and his character re- 
ceived commensurate testimony of approval in the offices 
bestowed upon him. The County Court elected him a Trus- 
tee of Rhea Academy, which office he held until he entered 
the State Legislature. 

Mr. Johnson took an active part in securing the adoption 
of the new Constitution (1834), which greatly enlarged the 
liberties of the masses, and guaranteed the freedom of 
speech and of the press ; and through the earnest solicita- 
tions of the mechanics of Greenville, he was induced, in the 
summer of 1835, to offer himself as a candidate for the 
House of Representatives in the State Legislature. The 
district embraced the counties of Washington and Green ; 
and his first opponent, Matthew Stephenson, was a worthy, 
highly respected gentleman, and a popular Whig politician ; 
who had been in the Legislature, and was familiar with the 
people and the history of State legislation. The young 
Ex-Mayor knew nothing of the latter, and his knowledge of 
the people was confined mainly to Greenville. He, however, 

(26) 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNS ON. 2 



& t 



announced himself as a Democrat, and while his friends 
and the young mechanics of the district, among whom his 
reputation had naturally extended, were ardent in his sup- 
port, the old political leaders of the party, and those who 
exerted influence by reason of their wealth and social posi- 
tion, doubtfully shook their heads, and gave but little encour- 
agement to the nomination. 

With characteristic energy Mr. Johnson prepared for the 
contest, and almost immediately opened the campaign. At 
the first meeting all doubt of his capacity in the position, 
either as a speaker or tactician, vanished. Arraigning the 
political career of his opponent, he threw that gentleman 
completely and at once on the defensive ; astonishing not 
only the audience, but Mr. Stephenson himself, by his knowl- 
edge of his political life and acts. The advantage gained 
on the opening was daily improved by Johnson, until his 
competitor's chances were completely negatived, and finally 
resulted in an overwhelming defeat. 

The Legislature assembled in October, 1835, and of 
course, Mr. Johnson took his seat at the opening of that 
deliberative body. With a commendable sense of self- 
respect he was at first rather a silent member, watchful of 
the measures introduced, and attentive to the necessary rules 
and routine. The Constitution having been but recently 
amended, many difficult and perplexing questions arose on 
the re-organization of the State Government. These over- 
come, and having familiarized himself with the rules, Mr. 
Johnson assumed his share in the current debates, and 
commanded a consideration from all, that might well have 
inspired pride in older and more experienced members. 
He became especially prominent by his opposition to a vast 
scheme of so-called " internal improvements," which em- 
braced a system of Macadamized and turnpike roads, and 
involved a State indebtedness of about four million dollars. 
He vigorously condemned the mammoth scheme; and in 



23 LIFE AND TUBLIC SERVICES 

the course of the discussion said : " That with the lights 
then before him, and in the absence of knowing what was 
the will of his constituents in regard to the creation of a 
large State debt, he felt it his duty to vote against the 
proposition ; believing as he did, that before the creation 
of a large State indebtedness, such a proposition should be 
submitted to the whole people of the State for their con- 
sideration and decision." 

The scheme passed the Legislature and became a law, 
but Johnson remained opposed to it. He was not to be 
swerved from what he deemed a popular right on so import- 
ant a State measure. Numerous works of improvement 
were immediately projected in various parts of the State, 
and large sums of money freely disbursed. The excitement 
thus created buoyed up the measure for some time on a 
high tide of popularity ; yet it did not carry Johnson away. 
So able an advocate of the Homestead measure as Johnson, 
through conviction, always was, could not but be a friend to 
internal improvements ; but the law he so persistently op- 
posed was, as he viewed it, only " a system of wholesale 
fraud." Before its evil results, which he prophesied, were 
manifest, an election for the next Legislature took place. 
Johnson was a candidate, and his opponent, Mr. Campbell, 
was a strong advocate of the policy of 1835, which tem- 
porarily carried every thing before it. Johnson, however, 
manfully stood by his convictions ; brought the issue before 
the people, and after a fierce contest, he was defeated by a 
small majority. 

As time passed on, his opposition on this point became 
more solidified. The Legislature met and adjourned, and 
again the two opposing candidates of 1837 were before the 
same constituency for re-election in 1839. The much ap- 
plauded scheme of internal improvements had developed the 
evils predicted by Johnson four years previously. The 
Slate, in many instances, was defrauded by the companies, 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 29 

and in others, the works were abandoned, while the public- 
debt had been largely increased. Every thing conspired to 
fulfill the views asserted by Mr. Johnson, and as a conse- 
quence to reinstate him in the confidence of the masses. 
The election came off, and ho was again returned to the 
Legislature. The reputation for sagacity and integrity then 
acquired in the community, and acknowledged by his re-elec- 
tion, has never since suffered any diminution in the State 
which has yielded him all the honors in her power. 

In the famous Presidential campaign between Harrison 
and Van Buren, in 1840, Mr. Johnson's earnest power as a 
speaker recommended him as equal to the task of canvassing 
Eastern Tennessee in favor of the Democratic candidate. 
He served as Presidential Elector at Large, and met " on the 
stump" the leading Whig orators of the day, among whom 
were the Hons. E. H. Foster and John Bell ; one of whom, 
at least, he subsequently met upon a greater and more ele- 
vated field, and before a more widely representative, even 
if smaller audience. 

In the following year Hawkins and Green counties sent 
him to the State Senate by a majority of two thousand, and 
he signalized his term by the introduction of judicious-meas- 
ures for internal improvements in the eastern division of the 
State. That these met the approval of the people is shown 
by the fact that, in 1843, they desired his services on a 
broader field, and nominated him for Compress from the 
First District, which embraced seven counties. His antago- 
nist was a United States Bank Democrat, a man of eloquence 
and capacity, Colonel John A. Asken. Johnson was elected, 
and taking his seat in the House of Representatives, in 
Washington, December, 1843, continued, by subsequent 
re-elections, to represent his district for ten years, during 
which period he distinguished himself in support of the bill 
refunding the fine imposed on General Jackson ; the annex- 
ation of Texas ; the war measures of Polk's administration ; 



30 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

and as an untiring, able and conscientious advocate of the 
Homestead bill. But this period cannot be passed over 
without some allusion to the details. 

Mr. Johnson made his debut in the Twenty-eighth Con- 
gross as the defender of " Old Hickory." advocating, in a 
brief but forcible argument, the restoration of the fine im- 
posed upon General Jackson for having placed New Orleans 
under martial law in 1814. He followed this up by a reply 
to John Quincy Adams on the right of petition, which was 
characterized as a highly creditable effort ; and by an argu- 
ment on the Tariff, in which he declared it was a departure 
from the principles of equity to tax the many for the benefit 
of the few, under the plea of protecting American labor, as 
was done by the Tariff of 1812. He insisted upon it, that, 
while Congress was consulting the interests of the manu- 
facturer, it had no right to forget or neglect those of the 
agriculturalist, as high-protectionists were notoriously too 
apt to do, and replied to Mr. Andrew Stewart of Pennsyl- 
vania by a scries of circumstantial details showing that, so 
far as protection applies to protecting mechanics proper, 
there is no reality in it ; for, if all arc protected alike, the 
protection paralyzes itself and results in no protection at 
all. " Protection operates," said he, " beneficially to none, 
except those who can manufacture in large qualities, and 
vend their manufactured articles beyond the limits of the 
immediate manufacturing sphere." 

This subject of the Tariff was, at one period, of as deep 
interest and created as profound an excitement as any 
of the great questions — excepting slavery — which have agi- 
tated Congress and the people. Time, experience, and of 
late, irresistible necessities have softened the asperities of its 
political aspect. Upon this ever-important topic, Mr. John- 
son took a strong position at an early day. His view, like 
all he holds, indicates as well as embraces the forms of 
popular philosophy which make the bulwark of popular 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 31 

rights. These views cannot be said to be political, but just. 
For this reason, and owing to his unvarying maintenance of 
them, in conjunction with other distinguished co-laborers, 
they have become interwoven with almost every interest 
irrespective of party shackles or the chimerical exigencies 
of sectional divisions. Retrenchment and reform is the 
basis of his financial philosophy ; and he feelingly, though in 
vigorous phrases, reflects the wants and wishes of the popu- 
lar heart, while expressing the earnest desires of his own. 
Opposing the Tariff of 1842, in the House of Representa- 
tives, he said : 

" At the head of the taxing power stands the General Government. 

" It taxes almost every thing we eat, drink, wear and use 

" These taxes, and almost numberless others, are imposed on us 
through an instrumentality of a tariff of duties on imported products 
and merchandise. The whole amount paid, however, does not go 
into the Treasury of the United States. The tariff of duties increase 
not only the price of imported articles, but of articles of a similar 
kind manufactured or produced within our own country ; and while 
the Government obtains revenue on imported articles, the favored 
manufacturer and producer obtains an equal revenue upon their 
fabrics and products. It is in effect a partnership with them and 
the Government to get money out of the people. 

" The time has now arrived when the people, the laboring people 
of the country, must inquire into these things more minutely than 
they have heretofore ; the expenses of the Government must be re- 
duced ; the people must be relieved from their burdens ; retrench- 
ment and reform must be begun in good earnest. I, for one, though 
the humblest of the people's representatives, will be found voting 
against and speaking against this oppressive and nefarious system of 
plundering the great mass of the people for the benefit of the few. " 

At the second session of the Twenty-eighth Congress, 
Mr. Johnson warmly co-operated with the friends of Texan 
annexation, and on the 21st of January. 1845, delivered an 
able speech on the subject. In advocating the admission of 
that Republic into the Union, he gave many and strong 
reasons, some of which have equal point and pith in the 
present state of affairs, as to the cause and period which 



32 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

originally suggested them. The annexation would give the 
Union all the valuable cotton soil, or nearly so, upon the 
habitable globe. Cotton was destined to clothe more human 
beings than any other article that had ever been discovered. 
The factories of England would be compelled to stand still, 
were it not for cotton. "Without it, her operatives would 
starve in the street, and if this Government had the com- 
mand of the raw material, it was the same as "putting 
Great Britain under bonds to keep the peace for all time 
to come." 

Dwelling on this point, he said : 

" The raw material cotton she must have, and must be dependent 
upon the United States for it. By the admission of Texas into the 
Union, it would give this Government the command of the Gulf 
Stream, extending protection and security to the commerce of the 
great valley of the Mississip2)i. Time would not permit him to 
point out the many advantages, both of a domestic and national 
character, that would flow from the consummation of so grand an 
object. The stream of wealth that would flow from the silver mines 
of Mexico ; the peculiar fitness and adaptation of the climate and 
soil to the production of cotton, sugar and rice, and the higher and 
more northern portion to the growing of slock and grain." 

"While depicting the inducements for the admission of 
Texas, Mr. Johnson gave utterance to the following remark- 
able passage in showing the profitable employment it would 
give to slave labor : 

" Thereby enabling the master to clothe and feed that portion of 
our population, softening and alleviating their condition, and in the 
end, when it shall please Him who works out all great events by 
general laws, prove to be the gateway out of which the sable sons 
of Africa are to pass from bondage to freedom ; where they can be- 
come merged in a population congenial with themselves, who know 
and feel no distinction in consequence of the various hues of skin 
or crosses of blood." 

He pictured the Tcxans as having gone out from their 
mother country like the twelve spies of olden times, and as 
having succeeded in exploring and possessing themselves of 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 33 

the remaining portion of the domain, destined by God for his 
American Israel. The great object accomplished, they re- 
turned, not as prodigals whose estates had been wasted, or 
with even specimens of the production of their delightful 
acquisitions, but with the country itself. ' : This country,'' 
said he, " they are willing to lay down at our feet. Will 
we refuse them admission into the family of States ? They 
are our kindred and our blood ! our brothers and our sis- 
ters ! Have they not proved themselves worthy of being 
associated with their own noble race?" For himself he 
was willing when he took " a glance at the historic 
page giving an account of their rise and progress ; the 
privations they had undergone ; the money and toil they 
expended ; the valor and patriotism they had displayed 
in the hour of danger ; the magnanimity and forbearance 
in the hour of triumph over a captive foe, whose garments 
were red with their brother's blood ; the battles they had 
fought and the fields of carnage through which they have 
passed ; the brilliant and unexampled victories they have 
won on their grand and glorious march to freedom and in- 
dependence, to extend to them the right hand of fellowship, 
and to welcome them into our glorious sisterhood of States." 

In the course of the exciting debate upon the Texas 
question, Mr. Clingman of North Carolina intimated that 
British gold had been used to carry the election of Polk. 
Mr. Johnson denounced the suggestion as a vile slander, 
without the shadow of a foundation, and called on the 
gentleman from North Carolina for his proof, relying on 
the fact, that if there were no authority for the assertion, 
it was a slander. In the course of Mr. Clingman's remarks, 
he said that, " had the foreign Catholics been divided in 
the late election, as other sects and classes generally were, 
Mr. Clay would have carried, by a large majority, the State 
of New York, as also the States of Pennsylvania, Louisiana, 
and probably some others in the Northwest." There were 
3^ 



34 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

but few Catholics in Mr. Johnson's district, and he was not 
called upon to do battle with the prejudices that might or 
did exist against them ; but he protested against the doc- 
trine advanced by the Representative from North Carolina. 
He wished to know if Clingman desired to arouse a spirit 
of persecution ; to sweep away or divide all those who 
dared to differ from the Whig party; and in the course 
of the speech alluded to, delivered the following broad 
and truly republican doctrine, based on a complete appre- 
ciation of the civil and religious rights extended by the Con- 
stitution to all children, native or adopted, of the Republic : 

" The Catholics of this country had the right secured to them by 
the Constitution of worshiping the God of their fathers in the 
manner dictated by their own consciences. They sat down under 
their own vine and fig tree, and no man could interfere with them. 
This country was not prepared to establish an inquisition to try and 
punish men for their religious belief; and those who assailed any 
religious sect in this country would find a majority of the people 
arrayed against them. He said he desired to know — aye, lie demanded 
to know, of the gentleman from North Carolina, what he meant by the 
employment of the language just road from his speech ? Does the 
gentleman mean that there is to be a spirit of persecution aroused 
which is to ' sweep away ' any one of the numerous religious denom- 
inations that now prevail in this country ? Is the guillotine to be 
erected in this republican form of government, and all who differ in 
opinion with the Whig party brought to the block ? Is then a cru- 
sade to be commenced against the Church to satiate disappointed 
party vengeance ? Arc the persecutions of olden times to be revived ? 
Are the ten thousand temples that have been erected, based upon the 
sufferings and atonement of a crucified Saviour, with their glittering 
spires wasting themselves in the very heavens, all to topple and fall, 
crushed and buried beneath the ravings of party excitement ? Is 
man to be set upon man, and in the name of God lift his hand 
against the throat of his fellow ? Is the land that gave a brother 
birth to be watered by a brother's blood ? Are the bloodhounds of 
persecution and proscription to be let loose upon foreigners and 
Catholics, because some of them have acted with the Democratic 
party in the recent contest ? Are the fires of heaven that have been 
lighted up by the cross, and now burn upon so many altars conse- 
crated to the true and living God, to be cpienched in the blood of 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 35 

their innocent and defenceless worshipers, and the gutters of our 
streets made to flow with human gore ? This is but a faint reality 
of what is shadowed forth in the gentleman's speech, but for the 
purpose of showing the country how ignorant he was of the facts, 
and how reckless he was in bold statement, he would read from a 
pamphlet he held in his hand, which was written by a Whig in the 
city of Nashville, Tenn., and dedicated to the Hon. John Bell : 

" ' I am a member of a Protestant church and a citizen of Nash- 
ville, where there are but few Catholics, and where the citizens gene- 
rally are somewhat prejudiced against them ; I could, if I wished, 
with impunity speak derogatory of this sect. But let justice be 
done, though the heavens should fall. From whence or how was 
obtained the idea that Catholicism is hostile to liberty, political or 
religious ? During the Reformation, the great mother of revolutions, 
when the foundations of powers and principalities were upheaved 
as by the eruptions of a volcano, did not the demon of persecu- 
tion rage as fiercely among the Protestant sects as among the 
Catholics ? Did not the Calvinists, Lutherans, and Arminians oft 
array themselves against each other ? Did not the Protestants pre- 
vious to the revolution in Great Britain persecute with dire vengeance 
each other ? and have they not clone so in Germany, France, and 
many other European powers, since ? During our colonial state, 
when Protestants, Puritans and Quakers were disfranchising and 
waging a relentless war of persecution against each other through 
Pennsylvania and the New England colonies, did not Catholic Mary- 
land open her free bosom to all, and declare in her domain that no 
man or sect should be persecuted for opinion's sake ? And was she 
not from this fact the sanctuary of the oppressed and persecuted, 
not only of America but of Europe ? And when the storm-cloud 
of a seven years' revolution burst with all its destructive wrath, were 
not Catholics seen fighting in the vans of our armies, and mingling 
their torrents of blood with those of Protestants in defence of Ameri- 
can liberty and independence ? Was there an ocean, a bay, or a 
stream, not impurpled by their blood ? Was there a hill or a plain 
not whitened by their bones ? And is Catholicism a foe to liberty ? 
Is Ireland's Catholic isle the nursery of slaves, though her evergreen 
shamrock no longer wreathed the brows of her warriors, though her 
palaces are in ruins, her cities in tears, her peojfle in chains ? No ! 
thou didst never cradle a slave ; and thy innocent convulsions are 
but the struggling throes of that unextinguished spirit of liberty 
which shall yet burst forth with irresistible impetuosity, and shake 
haughty England to her very anchor, though deep down in the main ! 
Was Catholic Poland the birthplace of slaves ? Go ask Cracow and 



36 LIFE OF AXDREW JOUXSOX. 

Warsaw vrlien they last beheld, against combined Russia, Austria 
and Prussia, in death arrayed, their patriot bands — few but undis- 
mayed ; or ask Freedom, too, as said the bard, Did she not shriek 
when Poland under MadaJinsM and Kosciusko fell ? Were Lafayette, 
Pulaski. McNeill, De Kalb and OTJrien foes to liberty ? Was Charles 
Carroll of Carrolltcn, the last survivor of the signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, a friend of despotism ? Was Thomas Fitz- 
simmons, one of the immortal revolutionary lathers that framed the 
Constitution, a foe to liberty ? Have we forgotten what Washing- 
ton, the great father of his country, said of the Catholics ? He said : 
" I hope ever to see America foremost among the nations of the 
earth in examples of justice and liberality ; and I presume my fel- 
low-citizens will never forget the patriotic part which Catholics took 
in the accomplishment of their revolution and the establishment of 
their government, or the important assistance which they received 
from France, in which the Catholic religion is professed !" ' 

During this session, one of the Ohio delegation having 
alluded to General Jackson in an uncalled-for manner, Mr. 
Johnson gallantly defended the character of Jackson, then 
Hying in retirement in the forests of Tennessee, from the 
unkind allusions, which seemed to him strange, coming from 
the quarter whence they had emanated. 

Thus have we seen the poor orphan -boy struggling 
through vicissitudes, the romance of which, when viewed 
from the stand-point of ultimate success, almost dispels 
their gloomier aspects. We have seen the triumph of his 
manly honesty, of his manual industry, and of his mental 
energy. We have seen him fill all the municipal and legisla- 
tive offices in the gift of his townsmen and fellow-citizens 
within the State of Tennessee; and we have seen him 
representing his State in the national Congress of the 
Republic, taking his stand boldly, broadly and honorably 
on the most important questions of the time ; vindicating 
the choice of those who sent him, and already accorded, in 
his first Congressional term, rank as a rising man — a notable 
man, one who had opinions, and a fervid method of express- 
ing them. 



CHAPTEE III. 

1845 to 1S57. 

Twentt-sikth Congress — Contention between England and the United States 

— The Oregon Boundary — How the Discussion was Adjusted — Polk and 
Pakenham — Mr. Johnson's Position — Taxes — Opposes Internal Improve- 
ments of Local Nature and Indiscriminate Expenditure — The States and 
the Federal Government — The War with Mexico; was it "Unholy?" — 
The Veto Power — His Congressional Career — Plan to Defeat him — 
Elected Governor of Tennessee — Speech against " Know-Xothingism " — 
Re-elected Governor — The Canvass — Anecdotes of his Personal Courage 

— Elected United States Senator. 

Mr. Johnson was re-elected to the national House of 
Representatives in the summer of 1845. 

The Twenty-ninth Congress was for many reasons one of 
the most important in the political history of the country 
up to that period. A hitter contention existed between the 
United States and Great Britain in regard to the line which 
divided the possessions of the two Powers in Oregon. Emi- 
nent and sagacious statesmen in both countries predicted 
war. While many political leaders in America looked 
hopefully forward to any cause which would breed a rup- 
ture with England, against which the popular sentiment of 
the Democratic party was settled, there were others in 
England who thought the opportunity favorable for striking 
a blow at and waylaying the expanding pride and preten- 
sions of the Great Republic. England had not entirely 
outgrown the humiliation -eceived at the hands of Barney, 
Lawrence. Macdonough, Perry, Reid. and others, on sea ; 
and from Scott, Wool, and their comrades, on land ; and 

(37) 



38 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

which culminated in Andrei Jackson's brilliant and crush- 
ing operations at New Orleans. Irritating causes of dissen- 
sion, of greater or less magnitude, had been increasing 
between the Governments and people for several years ; 
and an open rupture was an event which, on both sides of 
the Atlantic, was regarded as not only imminent, but as 
scarcely possible of postponement for any length of time. 
The Oregon Boundary was looked upon as the approaching 
opportunity to wipe out old scores on both sides. 

Mr. Johnson took a decided stand in support of our 
right to the line of 54° 40', but at the same time, he then, 
and ever, insisted that the real contest was for the territory 
between 46° and 49°, as that embraced the Columbia River, 
which Great Britain was anxious to acquire on account of 
the invaluable advantages it afforded for both military and 
commercial purposes. Tyler's Administration, through Daniel 
Webster, then Secretary of State, had offered to adjust the 
difficulty on the line of 49° ; and the Polk Administration, 
in the words of its first protocol to Mr. Pakenham, the 
British Minister, " had determined to pursue the present 
negotiation to its conclusion upon the principle of compro- 
mise in which it was commenced, and to make one more 
effort to adjust this long-standing controversy." Although 
" 54° 40', or fight," had been a potent rallying election cry, 
still, in the position of affairs, it was a matter of national 
courtesy and self-respect that President Polk should renew 
the proposition of his predecessor. The British Minister, 
however, declined the offer without consulting his Govern- 
ment. The President then directed the withdrawal of the 
offer, declaring, through the Secretary of State (Mr. Bu- 
chanan), that such a proposition would never have been made 
had the question been a new one and not a pending nego- 
tiation. But the British Government quickly rebuked its 
Minister's haste, and made an offer of adjustment on the 
very line rejected by Mr. Pakenham, declaring it, at the same 



OF ANDREW JOUNSON. 39 

time, as its ultimatum. Here was a turning of diplomatic 
tables. It was not in accordance with Polk's views to 
accept it; and yet, in the eyes of the world, its rejection 
would have appeared simply as 'a willful and wanton desire 
for war. It was accepted. To pursue a different course 
would, in the opinion of Mr. Johnson, be abandoning the 
substance and running after the shadow ; he therefore, 
firmly and frequently, sustained President Polk in his settle- 
ment of the question. 

In tliis session Mr. Johnson denounced as oppressive the 
proposed contingent tax of ten per cent, on tea and coffee, 
laying it down as a fundamental principle that the expenses 
of Government, especially those incurred in time of war, 
should be defrayed by those who enjoyed the largest share 
of its protection. He thought it a great injustice that t,he 
poor man should not only shed his blood in defense of the 
rights and honor of his country, but also be overburdened 
with taxes. Having aided in demolishing the proposed tax, 
he introduced and carried through a bill providing a tax to 
a certain amount of per centage upon all bank, State and 
Government stock, and other capital. He also, in the 
debate on the River and Harbor Improvement bill, took 
general grounds against the insane policy of expending the 
public money on internal improvements not in their charac- 
ter national, but entirely local. In this speech Mr. John- 
son portrayed with a masterly hand the evil consequences 
which would flow from such an indiscriminate expenditure ; 
and demonstrated that national bankruptcy, crime and 
peculation must follow in the train of such legislation. He 
proceeded to show that it would break down the rights of 
the States, and ultimately terminate in a great central 
power, too weak and too corrupt to meet any of the legiti- 
mate objects of the Government. " Let the States thus 
become dependent," said he, " on the Federal Government, 
and the sovereignties of which this glorious Union is com- 



40 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

posed will ere long sink into petty corporations — the cring- 
ing footstools of the Federal Power, the mendicant recipi- 
ents of the bounties of the Federal Government ; and this 
Federal Government itself will become a great consolidated 
Power, around which the States will revolve as mere satel- 
lites ; receiving from its scorching rays their lierht, heat 
and motion. Are we prepared for such a state of things? 
Is the Congress of the United States, I ask, ready to adopt 
a system which will inevitably bring along with it such a 
crushing calamity, such overwhelming and disastrous ruin?' 7 
In the second session Mr. Johnson supported with great 
ability the raising of men and money for the prosecution of 
the war with Mexico. On the bill providing for the levy 
ing of an additional military force to sustain it he declared 
his position, and unfalteringly maintained it during the fierce 
and bitter conflicts that agitated both Congress and the 
nation, until the news of victory after victory crowned our 
arms with glory and created a popular enthusiasm- which 
was speedily taken advantage of by the politicians. In a 
most forcible and eloquent speech, made in the House of 
Representatives in 1817, he took occasion to severely rebuke 
the large party then in Congress, who were denouncing the 
war as " unconstitutional, unholy and damnable." Pie pointed 
out their incessant opposition to the war. On the one hand 
they voted men and money to carry it on ; while on the 
other, they denounced it as " unjust" and " unholy," thereby 
encouraging the enemy to protract it, for no other purpose 
than, in their own language, of welcoming our heroic country- 
men "with bloody hands to hospitable graves." In this 
memorable speech he said : 

" If the war is in violation of the Constitution it cannot be re- 
paired by widening the breach. If it is damnable it can never be 
made honorable. If it is unholy it can never be made righteous. 
There is but one true position to take upon this question in sound 
morals. If the nation is wrong and has inflicted injury on Mexico, 
as an honorable people and Christian nation we are bound to with- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 41 

draw our troops and indemnify Mexico for all the injury we have 
done. If this war is such an one as it is represented to be, what an 
awful end for our officers and soldiers who have fallen in such a 
contest. He that has the proper standard of morals set up in his 
mind, must be horror-struck at the very contemplation. To think 
of men going from time to eternity as a mere miserable set of pirates ! 
What an awful reflection this must be in the hour of death ! To die 
though, as Captain Taggart of Indiana died upon the plains of Buena 
Vista, is inspiring to the patriot and Christian. In that bloody and 
fearful conflict, after being stricken down, weltering in his blood 
beneath the gory crimson spear, when in the very last throes of death, 
he rises upon his side and unbuckles his sword that he had so gal- 
lantly wielded in his country's rights, hands it to his companions, 
and with his eyes fixed upon the Stars and Stripes, the dying words 
of his lips are, ' Take this, I can use it no longer ! Press on ! Our 
cause is just and victory will ere long perch upon our country's 
standard.' What a striking contrast is this, and in what a short 
time were his predictions fulfilled ! 

" Conviction forces itself upon my mind that this war was just, 
or it never could have been crowned with such unparalleled success. 
Our country must have been in the right or the God of battles would 
sometimes have been against us. Mexico must have been in the 
wrong — she is a doomed nation ! The right red arm of an angry 
God has been suspended over her, and the Anglo-Saxon race has 
been selected as the rod of her retribution." 

On the 27th of January, 1S47, Mr. Johnson introduced a 
resolution, addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, mak- 
ing certain inquiries regarding- the fund bequeathed by 
James Smithson to the United States, and closing the reso- 
lution by requesting the Secretary — 

" To make suggestions in relation to retrenching the expenditures 
of the Government in any or all of the departments, and particularly 
in relation to the reduction of salaries of officers, when the salary is 
over one thousand dollars per annum ; and that he further report to 
this House his opinion of the propriety and practicability of levying 
and collecting an ad valorem tax of twenty per cent., or any other 
rate that may be assumed, on gold and silver plate, gold watchesi 
jewelry, pleasure carnages, etc., and the probable amount of revenue 
which may be raised from the same. He will further make any sug- 



42 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

gestions where, in his opinion, the pruning-knife of retrenchment 
can be applied with safety and propriety at this time." 

Mr. Johnson was re-elected to Congress (the Thirtieth) 
by an overwhelming majority this year. 

Among his efforts of this period is one which, apart from 
its political bearing, has a peculiar interest. It is an argu- 
ment in favor of the Veto power.* He gave an historical 
outline of the veto power, which runs back to the times of 
the Roman Republic ; the tribunes of the people having had 
the right to approve or disapprove any law passed by the 
Senate, inscribing upon the parchment, in case they resolved 
to adopt the latter alternative, the word " veto." He traced 
this power, through the various stages of its progress, from 
the days of Augustus, and showed that since the establish- 
ment of this Government to the time at which he spoke, the 
veto power had been exercised twenty-five times, thus : by 
Washington, twice ; by Madison, six times ; by Monroe, 
once ; by Jackson, nine times ; by Tyler, four times ; by 
Polk, thrice." 

" It will be seen," said Mr. Johnson, " from the origin of the Gov- 
ernment to the present time, this power has been exercised twenty- 
five times. The whole number of laws passed from the organization 
of the Government and approved is about seven thousand, which 
would make one veto to every two hundred and eighty — a very small 
proportion ; and I think I may appeal with confidence to all those 
who are conversant with legislation here, whether it would not have 
been better for the people and the country if five thousand out of 
the seven thousand had been vetoed. I have been thus particular in 
giving the origin and exercise of the veto power, to prove that when- 
ever it has been exercised in compliance with the popular will by a 
tribune or president, or any other name you may think proper to 
call him, so that he is immediately responsible to the people, it ope- 
ates well." 

Again he said : 

" The veto, as exercised by the Executive, is conservative, and 
enables the people through their tribunician officer, the President, to 

* August 2, 1848. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 43 

arrest or suspend for the time being unconstitutional, hasty and im- 
provident legislation, until the people, the sovereigns in this country, 
have time and opportunity to consider of its propriety." 

This speecli supplied the Democratic Review for the Jan- 
uary following with the basis for an interesting article. 

True to the welfare of the people from whom he sprung, 
Mr. Johnson was the prime mover in Congress of the Home- 
stead bill, to give every man who is the head of a family and 
a citizen of the United States, a homestead of one hundred 
and sixty acres of land out of the public domain, upon the 
condition that he should occupy and cultivate the same for 
five years. As early as 184G he commenced the agitation 
of this question, and has been the forcible and untiring ad- 
vocate of it, not only in the Capitol, but everywhere and on 
every occasion. In another chapter the reader will have 
an opportunity of comprehending Mr. Johnson's love for 
and devoted labors in behalf of this benign, wise and pater- 
nal policy. 

Mr. Johnson sat in the House of Representatives for five 
consecutive Congresses, and while in that position labored 
as few men have ever labored to improve the condition of 
the people. It seemed to be his mission, as well by the 
example afforded by his own life as by his enlightened and 
passionately fervid advocacy of their cause, to make labor 
respected and its rewards respectable. Of course, within 
these ten years of active service, a Southern Representative 
must have had something to say on the Slavery question — 
the touch-stone of all political faith — during a period which 
resulted in the Compromise Measures of 1850, and which 
has since led to some of the greatest events ever presented 
to the genius of history to record. Of Mr. Johnson's views 
on the Slavery and other questions, a consecutive resume 
will be presented further on. 

It was predicted when Johnson went to Washington that 
his ultra notions would bury him fathoms deep, and that he 



44 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

would return to Tennessee only to prey upon a broken 
heart. But, as J. W. Forney said, " any one who gazed 
into his dark eyes, and perused his pale face, would have 
seen there an unquenchable spirit and an almost fanatical 
obstinacy that spoke another language." Johnson can look 
back on those years of his Congressional career as years of 
noble and manly triumph, inasmuch as they were given to 
the service of his country and humanity. 

The compliment paid by Sir James Mackintosh to Lord 
Nugent's* parliamentary services, in a letter to the con- 
stituents of the latter, is singularly appropriate to the legis- 
lative career of Andrew Johnson, and as equally true of 
the spirit of the people who sent him to and approved his 
course in Congress. Alluding to the constituents, Mackin- 
tosh says, " They have set the example of a popular election, 
exempt from disorder and expense, from the domineering 
ascendant of a few, and from the slightest suspicion of cor- 
ruption. Among them the suffrages of the people have 
neither been disturbed, nor enslaved, nor dishonored. Xo 
purse-proud stranger can boast of having bought their votes. 
Without attacking the just influence of property, they have 
exercised their own judgment on public men; they have 

calmly and firmly asserted its independence ; they 

have deprived great wealth of that monopoly which it may 
otherwise exercise against the most tried integrity, and the 
most eminent capacity for public service." 

Sir James Mackintosh truly believed that an electoral 
body can render no greater benefit to the community than 
by an example which recommends the most popular institu- 
tions of a free government to the approbation of all man- 
kind. The very words used by him in justification of the 
claim of Lord Nugent's constituents, may fitly be applied to 
the American Representative as " the advocate of a reduced 
military force, of economy of public expense, of liberty in 

* Author of Memorials of John Hampden, his Parf>/ and hi* Times. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 45 

discussing public measures, the enemy of slavery, the friend 
of that right to worship God according to the dictates of 
their conscience, which the sincere follower of every re- 
ligious community ought to consider as the most valuable 
and sacred of the rights of mankind." How true also of 
the instance before us, his remark that " it is always an ad- 
vantage that constituents should be familiarly acquainted 
with the ordinary and daily life of their representatives, 
which throws the clearest light on the true springs of every 
part of his conduct."" If these kind and judicious remarks 
were true of an English parliamentarian and his constitu- 
ency, they are in a still wider degree apposite to the Ten- 
nessean Representative and the people who felt proud to 
honor themselves in honoring him. 

The same animus which inspired jealous politicians to 
prognosticate evil for Johnson on his advent in Congress, 
inspired an equal desire to cut short his career there. But 
the people relied on their great advocate and defender. 
ITence what could not be done by political tactics before 
the eye of the populace, must be done by strategy behind 
their backs. Johnson's Congressional district was therefore 
changed by the opposition party in the Legislature, so as to 
make it overwhelmingly against him and thus end his public 
career. 

But the people came forward, adopted him as their can- 
didate, and after an exciting contest elected him in 1853 
Governor of Tennessee over Gustavus A. Henry, one of the 
ablest Whigs in the State.t He delivered his Inaugural on 
the 17th October of the same year. In this document he 
put forth what his critical rivals used to call his "ultra 
notions," such as they predicted would prove his ruin in 

* Memoir of Lord Nugent. 

t Appointed by Isham G. Harris, the rebel Governor of Tennessee, one of 
three commissioners to enter into and perfect a military league with "the au- 
thorities of the Confederate States," and recently a rebel Senator in the " Con- 
federate" Congress. 



46 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Congress ; and it was severely censured, not only by the 
" conservative statesmen of this country, but by the aristo- 
cratic press of England and France." Democratic opinion 
here, and especially in the great West, thought it better 
than almost any thing else from Governor Johnson's pen.* 

With the occasion, Governor Johnson's devotion to the 
rights of the people rose above all scctionalities. In 1855 
he made a very able speech at Murfreesboro', Tenn., against 
" Know-Xothingism ;" and, in his own clear and earnest way, 
turned the arguments by which the persecution was sought 
to be upheld, against the persecutors themselves. In the 
course of this speech he said : " The Know-Nothings were 
opposed to the Catholic religion because it was of foreign 
origin, and many of its members in this country were for- 
eigners also. He said that if it was a valid objection to 
tolerating the Catholic religion in this country because it 
was of foreign origin, and many of its members were for- 
eigners, we would be compelled to expel most of the other 
religions of the country for the same reason. Who, lie 
asked, was John Wesley, and where did the Methodist 
religion have its origin ? It was in Old England, and John 
Wesley was an Englishman. But, if John Wesley were 
alive to-day and here in this country, Know-Xothingism 
would drive him and his religion back to England whence 
they came, because they were foreign. Who, he asked, was 
John Calvin, and where did Calvinism take its rise? Was 
it not Geneva? And were Calvin alive, this new order 
would send him and his doctrines back whence they came. 
Who, he asked, was Roger Williams ? And would not 
Roger Williams and the Baptists share the same fate ? And 
so with Martin Luther, the great Reformer; he would have 
been subjected to the same proscriptive test." 

In the new position to which he had been elevated, Gov- 
ernor Johnson exhibited such personal and official integrity 

* See Western Democratic Review of the period. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 47 

such impartiality and devotion to the people's interests, that 
he was re-elected in 1855, after an active canvass, over 
Meredith P. Gentry, the " Great Know-Nothing" and Whig 
party leader in Tennessee. Of this contest, and the main 
issue, he gives us a graphic sketch in a debate in the United 
States Senate, some three years afterward, with John Bell. 
He said : " I canvassed the State from the mountains of 
Johnson County to the Chickasaw Bluffs in Shelby County. 
I was in nearly every county in the State, and well do 1 
recollect the exciting events that took place during that 
canvass. I had a competitor who was eloquent, who is 
known to many members of this House, who was with me on 
every stump in the State. One of the leading issues in that 
canvass was the Kansas-Nebraska bill. I pressed my com- 
petitor upon it before every audience, and there were 
scarcely ever such turn-outs in the State as during that 
canvass. It was one of the main issues between him and 
me. I pressed him upon it in every single speech I made 
in the State ; and he uniformly declined to take ground. 
He was afraid to take ground against it or for it, as was 
then believed, for fear it would injure him in the canvass. 

There was no doubt, in fact, that he harmonized 

with the Democratic party on that point, yet he shrank from 
the responsibility with a view of getting many votes by tak- 
ing a non-committal course. If he had taken bold ground 
against the Kansas-Nebraska bill, with the other issues 
pending in that canvass, he would have been beaten thou- 
sands and thousands throughout the State ; but from the 
fact of his taking a non-committal position on the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act, he was enabled to get many votes which he 
would not have received if he had taken bold ground on 
that question." 

From a rival Tenncssean source we also learn something 
of the force and ability of Johnson's competitor. As John- 
son tells us that Gentry would not take ground on the 



48 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Kansas question, lie doubtless strove to make " American- 
ism" his principal issue. Mr. Bell tells us that American- 
ism was the main ground of contest, and that it was just 
such a question as was pending in the State of Virginia at 
the time Henry A. Wise took the field in opposition to the 
American party. "A similar contest was going on in Ten- 
ee, and that State was counted on as certain for the 
Americans by a largo majority. They could tell, as they 
said, and I believe it is the fact, the number they had in 
their councils. I think it was upward of one hundred thou- 
sand, and no person doubted the election of Colonel Gentry 
when he became a candidate. Colonel Gentry, however, 
with all his powers of debate, and all his eloquence, had not 
the strength in that contest which it might be supposed such 
a man would possess, and which in previous political con- 
tests he himself had possessed." As De Quincey says, a 
triumph is to be measured by the amount of antagonism 
to be overcome, and in previous political contests Colonel 
Gentry had not encountered an Andrew Johnson. 

Party politics and partisan warfare were almost synony- 
mous terms in the Southwest a few years back. Some of 
the most amusing as well as most exciting stories arc con- 
nected with the political men and struggles of that region. 
Numbers have found their way into print, and a larger num- 
ber live in the traditions of the people. In this connection 
a recent writer gives us some anecdotes illustrative of the 
nerve and personal bravery of the subject of this Memoir. 

11 At any time during the last fifty years a man could hardly be a 
Governor of Tennessee without being physically brave ; still less 
could he climb to that position from a tailor's shop-board. In Ten- 
nessee the passions of men were hot, and, where arguments failed, 
there were not wanting ruffians to threaten the pistol and the bowie. 
knife. All that will be changed now ; but when Andrew Johnson 
was on the stump there, he saw more men with than without pistols 
in their breast-pockets, and knives in their boots or parallel to their 
back-bones. It was after Andrew Johnson was born that Andrew 



OF ANDREW. JVHXSOK 49 

Jackson had his bloody affray with Thomas H. Benton in a public 
place of Nashville. 

" When we were at Nashville, seven years ago, anecdotes of the 
coolness and courage of Governor Johnson were among the current 
coin of conversation. One gentleman, a political opponent of the 
Governor, an eye-witness of the occurrence, told us that a placard 
was posted in the town one morning announcing, in the well-known 
language of old Tennessee, that Andy Johnson was to be shot ' on 
sight.' Friends of the Governor assembled at his house, desirous to 
form a body-guard to escort him to the State House. ' No,' said he ; 
' gentlemen, if I am to be shot at, I want no man to be in the way 
of the bullet.' He walked alone, and with his usual deliberation! 
through the streets to his official apartments on Capitol Hill." 

Another eye-witness related a similar story. Johnson was 
announced to speak on one of the exciting questions of the 
day ; and loud threats were uttered that, if he dared to ap- 
pear, he should not leave the hall alive. At the appointed 
hour he ascended to the platform, and, advancing to the 
desk, laid his pistol upon it. He then addressed the audi- 
ence, in terms as near like the following as our informant 
could recollect : 

" Fellow-citizens — It is proper when freemen assemble for the dis- 
cussion of important public interests, that every thing should be 
done decently and in order. I have been informed that part of the 
business to be transacted on the present occasion is the assassination 
of the individual who now has the honor of add.' ou. I beg 

)ectfully to propose that this be the first business in order. There- 
fore, if any man has come here to-night for the purpose indicated, I 
do not say to him, let him speak, but, let him shoot.''' 

Here he paused, with his right hand on his pistol, and 
the other holding open his coat, while with his eves he 
blandly surveyed the assembly. After a pause of half a 
minute, he resumed : 

" Gentlemen, it appears that I have been misinformed. I will 
now proceed to address you on the subject that has called us to- 
gether." 

"Which he did, with all his accustomed boldness and 



50 LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNS OH. 

vivacity, not sparing his adversaries, but giving them plenty 
of " pure Tennessee." 

His second term in the gubernatorial chair drew to a 
close ; and as, after lie had enjoyed the highest legislative 
honors in his State, he was sent to the national House of 
Representatives ; so now, after ho had received from Ten- 
nessee the highest honor she could confer on him in her 
service at home, his faithfulness was rewarded by the n 
prominent position she could appoint him to in her interest 
outside of her borders. He was (in 1857) by almost unani- 
mous consent elected United States Senator for a full term, 
to end March 3, 1SG3. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE HOMESTEAD BILL. 

1857-1858. 

Takes his Seat in the United States Senate — The Homestead Bill — Flippant 
Opposition to it — Johnson's continuous Advocacy of the Measure — An- 
swers the " Constitutional Objection" — The People own the Land — Nine 
Millions of Quarter-sections and Three Millions of Voters — As a Revenue 
Measure — Johnson the acknowledged Leader on the Question — Tributes 
to him from A. G. Brown of Mississippi, J. L. Dawson and J. R. Chandler 
of Pennsylvania — Manoeuvres of Southern Senators to Waylay him and his 
Bill — ■ Hunter and the Appropriation Bills — Pleas for Regularity of Busi- 
ness — Satirical Compliment to Hunter — Johnson's Speech of May, 1858 — 
Refutes the Southern Charges of " Emigrant Aid Society" and " Demagog- 
ism" — Was Washington a Demagogue? — Vattel on Agriculture- — The 
Nursing Father of the State — Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, the Advo- 
cates of a Homstead Bill — The Measure considered : Financially, Socially, 
Politically — Rural Districts vs. Large Cities — Build up the Villages — 
Character of the Middle Classes — Emigration Defended — Replies to the 
Feudal and Aristocratic Doctrines of Clay aud Hammond — The "Property 
Aristocrats" and the "Mudsills" of Society — Johnson Independent of 
Southern Opinion — Operatives in the South — Are all Slaves who do not 
own Slaves ? — Should Congress create or reflect Public Opinion — Wanton 
Opposition to the Bill. 

The credentials of Hon. Andrew Johnson, as Senator 
from the State of Tennessee to the Congress of the United 
States, were presented on the opening of the Thirty-fifth 
Congress, Monday, December 7, 1857. In the absence of 
Vice-President Breckinridge, the oath prescribed by law 
was administered by Hon. Jesse D. Bright, " the oldest 
member of the Senate present." 

In this Congress Senator Johnson took most prominent 
action on his favorite subject, the Homestead bill, to grant 
to every person who is the head of a family and a citizen of 
the United States, a homestead of one hundred and sixty 
acres of land out of the public d'omain, on condition of oc- 
cupancy and cultivation in a specified time. This noble 

(51) 



52 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

project to distribute land to the landless and give a home 
to the homeless without money and without price, met, like 
all projects which have ameliorated the condition of man- 
kind, with decided and great opposition for a long time. 
Mr. Johnson, however, never lost sight of its vast import- 
ance, and with coequal assiduity, in the face of that odium 
which is so easily raised by flippant minds against one who 
is accredited with the possession of a "hobby" to ride 
other people's time and attention down, he steadily pressed 
it forward, year after year, gaining friends for it and 
strength, until lie had the pride and satisfaction of seeing it 
pass by a triumphant majority in the House of Representa- 
tives, while it met, at the same time, with such advocates as 
Webster and Cass in the United States Senate. 

During the debate of 1852, discussing one of the points 
raised, if I mistake not, by Hon. John A. Millson of Vir- 
ginia, in the House of Representatives, Mr. Johnson said : 

" What then becomes of the constitutional objection ? I 

pay it is a dereliction upon our part, end we omit to perform a high 
obligation imposed upon us by the Constitution, if we do not do some- 
thing of the sort to induce the settlement and cultivation of our 
public lands. Then what is the proposition 1\ We have acquired 
territory by the exercise of this treaty-making power. When does 
the fee pass ? The fee passed upon its acquisition into the Govern- 
ment as the trustee— the equity passed to the people in the aggregate, 
and ("lis is merely a proposition to distribute severally the fee where 
the equity already resides. That is what it proposes ; and gentle- 
men who can spin distinctions down to a fifteen hundred, can under- 
stand a plain common sense proposition like this. Ah ! say they, 
you give money for it and you must have money back again for it. 
Is money the only consideration you paid for it ? Where are those 
gallant sons who now sleep in Mexico ? Where are the ten thousand 
graves containing the bones and blood of your best citizens ? You 
owe it to the gallant dead who now sleep in your own and foreign 
lands, who sacrificed their all in the acquisition of this territory, to 
dispose of it in the way best calculated to promote the interest and 
happiness of those left behind. 

"Now what comes next upon the left, the weakest, and 



OF ANDREW JOHXSOX. 53 

based upon the least principle, but upon broad and presumptuous 
assertion. You have up there ' aggrarianisin ' and 'rank demagog- 
ism.' Is it demagogism to comply with the Constitution ? Is it 
' agrarianism ' to permit a man to take that which is Lis own ? They 
say, when you come to the principle of agrarianism, you take that which 
belongs to one man to give it to another. Such is not the principle 
of this bill. How doss this measure stand ? I will take cither horn 
of the dilemma as embraced in the first section of this bill. Permit 
the settler to take a quarter of a section, or even more, and I will 
still say it does not conflict with justice or smack in the slightest 
degree of agrarianism. We have nine million quarter-sections, as I 
said before, and three million qualified voters. Suppose we were 
going to make a pro rata distribution, there would be three quarter 
sections for each qualified voter in the United States." 

Again, in the same speech, he says : 

" Pass this bill and you inspire the people of your country with 
faith in their Legislatures, with faith in their Government, and at the 
same time inspire their bosoms with hope of doing better hereafter. 
I said that the bill embraces sound principles of religion. It em- 
braces the religion inculcated by St. Jame3. It embraces a holy re- 
ligion — I make use of the word in no irreverent sense — that divine 
arch of promise whose extremities rest upon the horizon, and whose 
span circles the universe. What do we find in this bill ? We find 
the widow and orphan provided for, and that, too, in strict conso- 
nance with the Constitution and its great principles." 

Mr. Johnson confuted the idea that the bill would im- 
poverish the Treasury ; on the contrary, he believed it 
would -increase the revenue. On this point, he at this time 
said : 

" I say it is a revenue measure. [ It will increase the receipts of 
the Treasury. How increase the receipts ? By the enhancement of 
the value of the remainder of your public domain. Let us take a 
case to illustrate. Take the laborer in society that has no profession 
— no trade — that has no sort of work of his own, and how much 
tax does he pay to the support of your Government under the pres- 
ent system? How much? Scarcely anything. But take one of 
these men, transplant him in the West upon one hundred and sixty 
acres of its fat, virgin soil, and in a few years, when he clears a few 
acres around him, gets a horse and a mula or two, and some fat, 



c 



54 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

thrifty hogs, which come grunting up to his log-cabin, and a few milch 
cows lowing at the barnyard, at once you have increased his ability 
to do what ? To purchase one hundred dollars' worth of foreign 
imposts or goods of domestic manufacture, when previously he could 
have bought little or nothing. I beg the attention of the Committee 
while I take a simple case to illustrate this principle. Some stagger 
and startle at the proposition, and say this thing will not do. How 
stands the fact in the case ? You have nine millions of quarter-sec- 
tions of public land, and you have three millions of qualified voters. 
Take one qualified voter who is the head of a family— say a family 
of seven — you transplant him from a position where he is making 
hardly any thing, and consequently buying but little, to a possession 
in the West of one hundred and sixty acres of this land. He bought 
scarcely any thing before, but by bringing his labor in contact with 
the productive soil, you increase his ability to buy a great deal." j 

Mr. Johnson, after continuing to demonstrate by simple 
but forcibly incontrovertible illustration, that the free dis- 
tribution of the public lands among actual settlers would 
increase the national Treasury, closed this part of his argu- 
ment by reference to a former speech he had delivered in 
Congress, in which he said : 

" That this expose ought to satisfy every one that, instead of vio- 
lating the plighted faith of the Government, it was enlarging and 
making more valuable, and enabling the Government to derive a 
much larger amount of revenue to meet all its liabilities, and thereby 
preserving its faith inviolate. He thought, too, that this expose 
ought to satisfy even the avaricious Shylock who contended for his 
pound of flesh, that this was the best policy for the Government to 
pursue, while at the same time it ameliorated and elevated the con- 
dition of the laboring man." 

Already Johnson was the acknowledged foster-father and 
leading advocate of the measure. In 1852 the Hon. A. G-. 
Brown of Mississippi, an earnest supporter of a homestead 
measure, but desiring to make sure that the occupant of the 
land should derive all the benefits of his labor, paid deserved 
tribute to Mr. Johnson in the following passage : " lam not 
going to make an argument against my friend's proposition. 
I honor the head that conceived it. The heart that is 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 55 

capable of such appreciation of the poor man's wants, is en- 
titled to and receives the homage of my poor esteem. The 
nation, indeed all mankind, should yield a grateful tribute 
to the mind that, almost unaided, has forced the considera- 
tion of this subject upon the American Congress." 

In the same session the Hon. John L. Dawson of Pennsyl- 
vania, addressing the House on the Homestead bill, at once 
indicated the judicious character of the manner, and paid 
due homage to its indefatigable champion. " What a useful 
lesson," said Mr. Dawson, " would such a plan prove to the 
Governments of Europe, and what an example would it 
furnish of republican care for the good of all, thus promoted 
by our happy institutions. It would present a spectacle in 
which the patriot, in the full exultation of hi's heart, might 
rejoice ; at which the honorable gentleman from Tennessee 
[Mr. Johnson] might rejoice, as Lycurgus did when return- 
ing through the fields just reaped, after the generous pro- 
visions that he had made for the citizens of Sparta and 
Laconia, and seeing the shocks standing parallel and equal, 
he smiled and said to some that were by, ' How like is 
Laconia to an estate newly divided among many brothers.' " 
The Hon. Joseph R. Chandler of Philadelphia, subse- 
quently United States. Minister to Naples, while addressing 
the House on the proposition, also gave significant expression 
to the benefits which would result from it, and the place which 
" the humble legislator" who presented it would occupy in 
the hearts of the people. Mr. Chandler believed that it 
would l>e adopted, if not during that session, at any rate at 
some future one, for " it was founded on the progressive 
character of the institutions of the country, and is therefore 
a part of the destiny of our legislation." " Sir," he further 
added, "other men may wear the civic wreath which the 
nation weaves for those who serve their country in lofty 
positions, or they may be graced with laurels prepared for 
those who defend her in the hour of peril, and their names 



56 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

may be inscribed upon the imperishable record of national 
glory ; while no crown shall be woven nor column be reared 
to the humble working legislator who prepared or presented 
the Homestead bill. A consciousness of duty performed 
must be his present remuneration, and his reward in the 
future must be the lowly inscription of his name with those 
who loved the people." 

In this condition Mr. Johnson left tlie project when 
elected Governor in 1853, and it remained with compara- 
tively little action in either branch of Congress until his. 
return as United States Senator, when lie immediately re- 
suscitated it. 

On introducing the bill into the Senate, Senator Johnson 
briefly referred to its past for the purpose of keeping the 
history of this great measure right. On the 27th of March, 
1846, the bill was first introduced into the House of Repre- 
sentatives ; and on the 12th of May, 1852 — six years, two 
months and fifteen days after said introduction — it pa 
that House by a majority of two-thirds. In 1853 the same 
bill, in substance, was introduced by the Hon. John L. Daw- 
son of the State of Pennsylvania, and it passed again by an 
overwhelming majority. '■Thus," said Senator Johnson, 
" the bill has twice received the sanction of the popular 
branch of the National Legislature. It was transmitted to 
this body, and here it failed on both occasions. I merely 
make these remarks for the purpose of keeping the history 
of this great measure right, and with the hope that it will 
meet its consummation by the sanction of this body in a 
much shorter period of time than it did in the House of 
Representatives." 

In one respect Senator Johnson's desires were fulfille 1 : 
but the final consummation was prevented by the Presi- 
dential veto. lie fought it into favor against the fixed and 
unrelenting opposition of the chief Southern Senators, in 
the Senate, as he had previously done in the House. His 



OF ANDRE W JO ENS OK 5 1 

efforts and anxiety kept pace with the network of antago- 
nism woven around it by such able men as Hunter of Vir- 
ginia and such unreasoning foes as Iverson of Georgia, such 
willful partisans as Biggs of North Carolina, such subtle 
enemies of popular rights as Benjamin of Louisiana, and 
such vindictive sneerers against labor as Clay of Alabama 
and their friends and political henchmen. It was no easy 
labor, and needed no little control of temper to meet the 
ever ready methods by which these resourceful parliamenta- 
rians waylaid his almost every attempt to bring the Home- 
stead bill before the Senate. 

The popularity of the measure had been long assured ; 
but this very popularity was an element which recommended 
it to the jealous opposition of the leading Southern men 
with but very few exceptions ; and Senator Johnson's name 
was so interwoven with it that he shared the ill-feelings 
directed against it, and also the subtle fear which it, united 
with his well-known indomitable energy and forcible char- 
acter, clearly conspired to create. His name and character 
were so identified with the Homestead bill that the citizens 
of various States requested the presentation of petitions on 
the subject through him, and not through the medium of the 
representatives from their own States. Thus, even in* the 
first session of the Thirty-fifth Congress alone, he laid before 
the Senate petitions emanating from citizens and meetings 
in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ken- 
tucky, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Texas, 
variously recommending the measure, some praying that the 
public lands may cease to be considered a source of revenue, 
and that all entries of them be confined to actual settlers, 
and others directly praying for the passage of the bill. 

The Southern oppositionists barely gave him time to ac- 
company the presentation of these evidences of popular 
desire with any remarks ; but, in fighting for the regularity 
of his bill, he more than once enunciated some sound views to 
?>* 



58 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the Senate touching the order of its business. Hunter and 
his appropriation bills were constantly haunting the Home- 
stead bill out of the Senate Chamber, and overriding every 
thing else. Hunter having moved the postponement of all 
prior orders to take up a consular and diplomatic appropri- 
ation bill, Seward and Brodcrick rushed to the rescue of 
the Pacific Railroad, and Johnson showed his desire for 
regularity in the order of business, saying : 

"So far as the appropriation bills are concerned, they 
always get through Congress. I never knew one to fail. 
They will get through some how or other. The Chairman 
of the Committee of Finance I know has great solicitude for 
the appropriation bills, and has the public interests much at 
heart. I will go with him as far as anybody in expediting 
and pushing his bills forward ; but my little experience in 
deliberative bodies satisfies me that the fastest and best way 
to get along with the public business, is to take it in the 
order in which it comes. Here is the Pacific Railroad bill : 
let us take it up and dispose of it. Here are other special 
orders : let us take them up and dispose of them. I have 
been anxiously waiting from day to day, hoping that things 
would progress in their proper order, so that we might reach 
what I conceive to be the most important measure of this 
or any other session of Congress, that is, the Homestead bill. 
I am in hopes we shall go on regularly and take up the 
business as it stands on the calendar, and then we shall ad- 
vance much more rapidly and, I think, much more satis- 
factorily to the country." 

About three weeks later Hunter came in to " postpone all 
prior orders" for another appropriation bill. The regular 
order having been invaded, Douglas reminded the Senate 
that Oregon was knocking at the portals of the Republic, 
and that it would take but a few minutes to let our Pacific 
sister in. Clay was interested in opposition to the Fishing 
Bounty bill, which was the " special order," but withdrew 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 59 

it to aid Hunter. This threw Senator Johnson's bill (which 
was next in order) back, and drew from him a firm protest 
against the departure from the calendar and an avowal to 
press his measure. He believed the Treasury would not 
suffer by delaying the appropriation bills, and doubted if 
the country would protest if they were not pressed through 
in " such hot haste." 

" I wdsh to say in this connection," said Senator John- 
son, " that if I understand the calendar right, the Homestead 
bill comes up next after the Fishing Bounty bill. The 
friends of that measure have been here quietly, patiently — 
or perhaps I ought to say, impatiently — waiting for a con- 
siderable length of time to have that bill reached. I am in 
hopes that business will go on in its proper order, and that 
that bill will be taken up and disposed of. The gentleman 
from Alabama [Mr. C. C. Clay] is now ready, and I under- 
stand the Senator from Maine [Mr. Hamlin] is ready, to go 
into the consideration of the first special order. Why not 
take it up and let the Indian appropriation come up in its 
proper place, and be disposed of in due time ? Let us take 
up first the Fishing Bounty bill, which is the first special 
order ; next the Homestead bill, and dispose of it as we 
reach it. I am inclined to think that the great mass of the 
American people are as deeply interested in the proper dis- 
tribution of the public lands, particularly when the propo- 
sition is to provide homes for the people, as in the appro- 
priation of thousands and millions out of the Treasury, 
especially when the condition of the Treasury is, to say the 
least, not plethoric. I hope we shall go on with business in 
its proper order. I do not intend to be importunate, I do 
not intend to be obtrusive on the Senate ; but I have the 
Homestead bill, as I know many others have, deeply at 
heart, and I intend to press it earnestly on the consideration 
of the Senate from this time until it shall be disposed of." 

But the appropriation bills were, as one of the Michigan 



GO LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Senators* suggested, used as " a broad-ax to cut down every 
other measure/' About ten days subsequently, when Sena- 
tors mainly from the South, Messrs. Iverson, Ynlee, Brown 
and Slidell, were arguing about the private calendar, and 
Hunter declared lie would not interfere, Senator Johnson 
took occasion to pay the latter a satirical compliment, by 
expressing his gratification on finding out that there was 
something before the Senate of sufficient importance to 
induce the Senator from Virginia not to press a bill pro- 
viding appropriations of the people's money for botanic:'.! 
gardens and green-houses. "1 am really gratified," lie 
added, with satirical earnestness, " to find that there is 
something of importance enough to make one of those bills 
give way." 

These glimpses will give a fair idea of the opposition 
encountered by Senator Johnson's measure. Where its. 
leading antagonists could not attack it in detail, they ear- 
nestly strove to postpone it beyond the session by " killing 
time" — a method they preferred ; as by that means, under 
specious pretexts of every description, they delayed the oc- 
casion of openly attacking so popular and thoroughly repub- 
lican a measure. Some Senators there were, like Mr. Crit- 
tenden, who undoubtedly differed from Senator Johnson 
upon honest and conscientious motives, but the personal an- 
tagonism of such as I have alluded to who obstructed its 
consideration was too plain to be mistaken. 

On the 20th of May, 1858, the Homestead bill having 
been the special order, Senator Johnson made one of his 
greatest efforts in its behalf. He prefaced his advocacy of 
the measure by showing that the Southern charge made 
against it, of its being of the nature of the ''Emigrant Aid 
r >ciety," was a plea and nothing else, as it had been intro- 
duced into Congress in 18-4 >, long before we had any Emi- 
grant Aid Societies, long before we had any Compromise 

* Mr. Stuart. 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 6 1 

measures of 1850 on the Slavery question, long before the 
agitations of 1854 and 1858 on the same subject. 

The policy lie advocated was not new or unsupported. 
The origin of the great idea of a homestead he found in the 
first law-writer, Moses, who enunciated it in his Hebrew 
economy.* He found that Yattel had earnestly approved, 
and that President Jackson had forcibly advocated it. 
Among the several sound passages quoted from the famous 
Commentator on Public Law, are the following : 

" Of all the arts, tillage or agriculture is the most useful and neces- 
sary. It is the nursing father of the State. The cultivation of the 
earth causes it to produce an infinite increase ; it forms the surest 
resource and the most solid fund for the rich commerce of the people 
who enjoy a happy climate. 

" This affair then deserves the utmost attention from Government. 
The sovereign ought to neglect no means of rendering the land under 
his obedience as well cultivated as possible 

"Another abuse injurious to agriculture is the contempt cast upon 
husbandmen. The inhabitants of cities, even the most servile artists 
and the most lazy citizen, consider him who cultivates the soil with 
a disdainful eye ; they humble and discourage him ; they dare to 
despise a profession that feeds the human race — the natural employ- 
it of man. A stay-maker places beneath him the beloved em- 
ployment of the first consuls and dictators of Rome."* 

In the message (1832) of General Jackson, who was be- 
lieved to be " not only a friend to the South, but the Union," 
he found his doctrine strongly inculcated. 

" It cannot be doubted," said Jackson, " that the speedy settle- 
ment of these lands constitute the true interests of the Republic. 
The wealth and strength of a country are its population, and the 
best part of the population are cultivators of the soil. Independent 
farmers are everywhere the basis of society and the true friends of 
liberty. 

" It seems to me to be our true policy that the public lands shall 
cease, as soon as practicable, to be a source of revenue, and that they 
be sold to settlers in limited parcels, at prices barely sufficient to re- 

* Vattel, Book i. Chap, vi . 



62 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

imburse the United States the expense of the present system and 
the cost arising from our Indian contracts." 

Turning to the Statutes of the United States, we find that 
the first Homestead bill ever introduced into the Congress 
■was in 1791. Senator Johnson rebuked the sneering asser- 
tion that the measure was demagogical, and was introduced 
and advocated for the purpose of pleasing popular opinion. 
He wanted " to see who these demagogues were," and point- 
edly referred to Jefferson as having recognized and appre- 
ciated this great doctrine. 

"In 1791" he said, " the first bill passed by the Congress 
of the United States recognizing the homestead principle, 
is in the following words : 

" ' That four hundred acres of land be given' — 

" That is the language of the Statute. We do not assume, 
in this bill, to give land ; we assume that a consideration 
passes ; but here was a law that was based on the idea that 
four hundred acres of land were to be given 

' to each of those persons who, in the year 1783 were heads of 
families at Vincennes, or the Illinois country, or the Mississippi, and 
who since that time have removed from one of the said places to the 
other ; but the Governor of the territory northwest of the Ohio is 
hereby directed to cause the same to be laid out for them at their 
own expense, etc.' " 

Another section of the same act provides that heads of 
families who had removed without the limits of said terri- 
tory, are " nevertheless entitled to the donation of four hun- 
dred acres, etc." 

" That act," continued Senator Johnson, " recognized the 
principle embraced in the Homestead bill. If this is the 
idea of a demagogue, if it is the idea of one catering or 
pandering to the public sentiment to catch votes, it was in- 
troduced into Congress in 1791, and received the approval 
of Washington, the Father of his country. I presume that 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 63 

if he lived at this day, and were to approve the measure, as 
he did in 1791, he would be branded and put in the cate- 
gory of those persons who are denominated demagogues." 

Senator Johnson showed that during Washington's Ad- 
ministration another bill of similar import was passed ; so 
that, so far as legislation is concerned, we find that the pol- 
icy commenced with the great First President. " From 
General Washington's Administration there are forty-four 
precedents, running through every administration of this 
Government down to the present time, in which this prin- 
ciple has been recognized and indorsed." 

Such a disposition of the public domain would in reality 
enhance the value of the unoccupied portions, and hasten its 
capacity for sustaining and nurturing a great and powerful 
people. Nor would it, in Senator Johnson's view, diminish 
the revenues of the country. On the contrary, by better- 
ing the condition of the laborer, and thus enabling him to 
consume a greater amount of foreign importations, it would 
add largely to an annual revenue from imposts. He sug- 
gested that we take a million families, who can now hardly 
procure the necessaries of life, and place them each on a 
quarter-section of land — how long will it be before their 
conditions will be improved so as to make them able to 
contribute something to the support of the Government? 
" Now," said he, i; here is soil producing nothing, here are 
hands producing but little. Transfer the man from the 
point where he is producing nothing, bring him in contact 
with a hundred and sixty acres of productive soil, and how 
long will it be before that man changes his condition?" 
With a variety of illustrations, Senator Johnson illuminated 
the subject financially. 

But the financial results of the measure did not afford the 
most favorable light in which it could be viewed. It also 
tended to raise man socially and politically — socially, by 
ameliorating his material condition, and politically, by giving 



64 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

him a stake in the welfare and stability of the country. It 
would build up the great middle class of the people, and 
do away at once with an aristocracy on the one hand or a 
rabble on the other. The public lands had been lavished 
on States and corporations. Senator Johnson thought it 
was now high time to place them within the reach of all 
the people. At the present rate of dispensing them it would 
require more than six hundred years to fill up and occupy 
our public domain. 

" "When you look," L.Q said, " at our country as it is, you see that 
it is important that the great mass of the people should be interested 
in the country. By this bill you provide a man with a Lome ; you 
increase tLe revenue ; you increase the consumption of home manu- 
factures, and you make him a better man. You give Lim an inter- 
est in tLe country. His condition is better. Tbere is no man so 
reliable as Le wLo is interested in tLe welfare of Lis country ; and 
wLo are more interested in the welfare of tLeir country tLan tLose who 
Lave Lomes ? WLen a man Las a Lome, Le Las a deeper and more 
abiding interest in tLe country, and Le is more reliable in all tbings 
that pertain to the Government. He is more reliable when he goes 
to the ballot-box; he is more reliable in sustaining the stability of 
our free institutions." 

Nor did he regard the enormous growth of cities and the 
accumulation of population about cities as most desirable 
for this country. The number of paupers in cities were in 
large proportion to the inhabitants ; he was not in favor 
of increasing them. He would rather plant them on the 
soil, and give them an interest in it. Moreover, he did not 
like to see the cities take an undue control of the Govern- 
ment ; and unless proper steps be taken, such will be the 
resfalt. Be held that the rural population, the mechanical 
and agricultural portions of the community, were the very 
salt of it. "They constitute," he said, " the ' mudsills,' to 
use a term recently introduced here. They constitute the 
foundation upon which the Government rests ; and hence we 
sec the state of things before us." It was fearful to think 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 65 

of the extent of pauperism on the ratio of recent New York 
statistics. Jefferson never said a truer thing than that large 
cities were eyesores in the body politic ; in democracies 
they were consuming cancers. " Build up your villages, 
build up your rural districts, and you will become men who 
rely upon their own industry ; who rely upon their own 
ingenuity ; who rely upon their own economy and applica- 
tion to business for a support ; and these are the people 
whom you have to depend on." He followed up this earnest 
recommendation with the following remarks : 

" We see then, Mr. President, the effect this policy is to 

have on our population. Let me ask here, looking to our popular 
elections, looking to the proper lodgment of power, is it not time 
that we had adopted a policy which would give us men interested 
in the affairs of the country to control aud sway our elections ? It 
seems to me that this cannot long be debated ; the point is too clear. 
The agricultural and mechanical portion of the community are to be 
relied upon for the preservation and continuance of this Govern- 
ment. The great mass of the people — the great middle class are 
honest. They toil for their support, accepting no favor from the 
Government. They live by labor. They do not live by consump- 
tion, but by production ; and we should consume as small a portion 
of their production as it is possible for us to consume, leaving the 
producer to appropriate to his owu use and benefit as much of the 
products of his own labor a> it i-s po33ible in the nature of things to 
do. The great mass of the people need advocates, men who are 
honest and capable, who are willing to defend them. How much 
legislation is done for them ? How much is done for classes ? How 
little care seems to be exercised for the great mass of the people ? 
"When we are among our constituents it is very easy to make appeals 
to the people and professions of patriotism, and then — I do not mean 
to be personal or invidious — it is very easy when we are removed 
from them a short distance, to forget the people and legislate for 
classes, neglecting the interest of the great mass. The mechanics 
and agriculturists are honest, industrious, and economical. Let it 

O 7 7 

not be supposed that I am against learning or education, but I might 
speak of the man in the rural districts in the language of Pope : 

" ' Unlearned, he knew no schoolman's subtle art, 
No language but the languagg of the heart ; 
l?v nature honest, by experience wise, 
Healthy by temperance and exercise.' " 

5 



C6 LIFE AXE PUBLIC SERVICES 

Continuing this appeal with clearness, and that eloquence 
which is the pure offspring of manly conviction, Senator 
Johnson exhibited the rapid growth and prosperity of the 
great Northwest under the influence of his Homestead bill, 
and the future grandeur and permanency of free institutions, 
and asked : 

" Who dares say this is not our destiny, if we will only permit it 
to be fulfilled ? Then let us go on with this great work of interest- 
ing men in becoming connected with the soil ; interesting them in 
remaining in your mechanic shops ; prevent their accumulating in 
the streets of your cities ; and in doing this you will dispense with 
the necessity for all your pauper systems. By doing this you enable 
each community to take care of its own poor. By doing this you 
destroy and break down the great propensity that exists with men 
to hang and loiter and perish about the cities of the Union, as is 
done now in the olden countries." 

If it be said that this measure, by offering a boon to emi- 
gration, would tend to depopulate the Southern States, 
it must be only on the supposition that the laborer could bet- 
ter his condition by a change of location ; and who would 
object to a policy which promised this beneficial result to 
the individual man ? It seemed to be feared that the bill 
would compel men to go on the lands. Senator Johnson 
did not suggest such an idea. He would leave every man 
to be controlled bv his inclinations and interest ; but he 
regarded it as neither statesmanlike, philosophical or 
Christian, to keep a man in a State and refuse to let him go 
because, if he did go, he would tend to populate some other 
portion of the country. If a man could better himself by 
crossing from Tennessee into Illinois, Louisiana or Missis- 
sippi, he would say, Go ! Let him go where he can better 
the condition of himself, his wife and his children. " "What 
kind of a policy is it," he asked," to say that a man should 
be locked up where he was born, and shall be confined to the 
place of his birth ?" 

In this connection the Senator made the following touching 



OF AKDRE W JOHNSOF. 6 7 

allusion to his own case in speaking of the large emigra- 
tion furnished to the "West by North Carolina : 

" She is my native State. I found it to be to my interest to 
emigrate, and I should have thought it cruel and hard if 
I had been told that I could not leave her boundary. Al- 
though North Carolina did not afford me the advantages 
of education ; though I cannot speak in the language of 
school men, and call her my cherishing mother, yet, in the 
language of Cowper, 

" ' With all her faults, I love her still.' " 

He did not care where a man went, so that he located 
himself in " this great area of freedom," became attached 
to our institutions, interested in the welfare of the country, 
and pursued his prosperity under the protection of the Stars 
and Stripes. 

Senator Johnson then proceeded to criticise certain por- 
tions of the speech of Mr. C. C.«Clay of Alabama, on the 
Kansas question, in which that Senator had treated of prop- 
erty and its protection as the main object of Government, 
and had regretted " the growing spirit in Congress and 
throughout the country, to democratize our Government." 
The Senator from Tennessee did not entertain such ideas, 
believing as he did in the capacity of the people for self-gov- 
ernment ; but if, as the Senator from Alabama had said, 
property was the foundation of every social state, and that 
society was formed and government framed, to preserve, 
protect and perpetuate the rights of property, then he [Mr. 
Clay] should undoubtedly favor the Homestead bill, and 
give to every head of a family who would accept it, a 
property title in the land. Defending democracy as the 
highest form of society and government, Johnson held up to 
merited reprobation the statements made by Senator Ham- 
mond of South Carolina, in his last noted speech during 
the Kansas (Lecompton) debate. He totally dissented from 



G8 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

so much of that Senator's language as seemed to imply that 
men who labored with their hands and for a stipulated 
price were therefore slaves. Such statements and such doc- 
trines were not only false in themselves, but were calculated 
to do infinite mischief in the South, where the number of 
slaveholders was small in comparison with the free white 
and non-slaveholding population. Though it was true that 
the number of slaveholders did not represent all who were 
directly interested in the maintenance of slavery, it was 
also true that such invidious comments on manual labor 
tended to engender opposition to slavery itself. 

The speech of Hammond alluded to, was that in which 
he characterized the working classes, whose requisites were 
" vigor, docility, fidelity," as " constituting the very mud- 
sill of society and political government ;" and in which he 
still further drew a comparison between the " slaves 7 ' of the 
North and South. In replying to the Senator from South 
Carolina who had given voice to the controlling Southern 
element, that which subsequently carried their un-republican 
views into open treason and war against the Republic, 
Johnson found it necessary to fall back on his individual 
character as a man, as considered in opposition to what 
might be his prospects as a politician residing in the South. 
The fact that he deemed such a course proper may well 
indicate the wide breach between him and the " aristocracy 
of property." Before dwelling on the " impolicy of the 
invidious remarks made in reference to a portion of the pop- 
ulation of the United States," he said : " Mr. President, so 
far as I am concerned, I feel that I can afford to speak what 
are my sentiments. I am no aspirant for any thing on the 
face of God Almighty's earth ! I have reached the summit 
of my ambition. The acme of all my hopes has been at- 
tained ; and I would not give the position I occupy here 
to-day for any other in the United States. Hence, I say, I 
can afford to speak what I believe to be true." 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 69 

This was a terrible rebuke to the Southern subjection to 
the " institution," which prevented individual independence, 
and linked all in the rule or ruin policy then so violently 
maturing. Well might Johnson glory in his position that 
day — a position won by honest integrity, in opposition to 
just such principles of aristocratic feudalism as those enun- 
ciated by C. C. Clay and Hammond. Well might he stand up 
to defend the people from whom he sprung ; who had confided 
in his faith and placed their honor where they knew it 
would not be sullied, in his keeping. He used the same ar- 
gument with Hammond as with Clay, as to giving the people 
something to attach them to the soil, to make them " men 
of property ;" and in reply to the question of the former 
" to define a slave," said : 

" What we understand to be a slave in the South, is a man 
who is held during his natural life subject to, and under the 
control of, a master. The necessities of life, and the va- 
rious positions in which a man may be placed, operated upon 
by avarice, gain or ambition may cause him to labor ; but 
that does not make him a slave. How many men are there 
in society who go out and work with their own hands, who 
reap in the field and mow in a meadow ; who hoe corn, 
who work in the shops ? Are they slaves ? If we were to 
go back and follow out this idea, that every operative and 
laborer is a slave, we should find that we have had a great 
many distinguished slaves since the world commenced. 
Socrates, who first conceived the idea of the immortality of 
the soul, Pagan as he was, labored with his own hands ; 
yes, wielded the chisel and the mallet, giving polish and 
finish to the stone : he afterward turned to be a fashioner 
and constructor of the mind. Paul, the great expounder 
himself, was a tent-maker, and worked with his bands ; was 
he a slave? Archimedes, who declared that if he had a 
place on which to rest the fulcrum, with the power of his 
lever he could move the w r orld ; was he a slave ?" Looking 



70 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

at the South, he asked if every man there not a slaveholder, 
was to be denominated a slave because he labored ? ' ; The 
argument," he said, " cuts at both ends of the line." There 
were operatives in the South ; there Avere laborers there, 
and mechanics there. He asked. " Were they slaves?" 

To show the impolicy as well as the untruth of applying 
such a phrase to the people of the South, he introduced some 
statistics from the census exhibiting the number of slaves, 
slave-owners and operatives in the leading States. " In the 
State of South Carolina there were twenty-five thousand 
slave-owners, and more than sixty-eight thousand operatives, 
showing that the large proportion of that State worked 
with their hands. Were they slaves? Were all slaves 
who did not own slaves?" These facts and queries created 
nervous and vindictive feelings inside, and much comment out- 
side of the Senate. In it Mason of Virginia could not help 
charcrino; the Senator from Tennessee with doing what 
Senators on the other side of the Chamber had done be- 
fore ; which was tantamount to calling him " an Abolitionist." 
Outside of the Senate, this episode in the speech attracted 
not less attention and 1 notice than the subject which formed 
the body of it. In addition to the intrinsic force of the manly 
refutation of the un-American doctrines avowed by Ham- 
mond and others, the trepidation of the Southern leaders on 
the application of their views to their own section, attracted 
a vivid interest. 

Returning to the main question under consideration, and 
concluding this great speech, Senator Johnson said, were 
the Homestead bill passed into a law, all he desired was 
the honor and credit of having been one of the American 
Congress who consummated a great scheme to elevate our 
race and to make our institutions more permanent. 

A week later, again reminding Senators of the passage 
of the bill twice in the House, he implored the action of 
the Senate. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 71 

" Let us vote directly on it," he said, " and let the country under- 
stand what we intend to do after having had it under consideration 
so long. I would almost venture — yet I will not dare to do it — to make 
a single appeal in behalf of the homeless thousands in the United 
States, to take up and pass this measure, and grant what they have 
long demanded — grant what they have appealed to you for again 
and again !" 

But the aristocratic phalanx was too strongly knit to- 
gether at the time. One of the Senators alluded to would 
not believe that public opinion was in favor of the measure, 
and even supposing that it was, boldly avowed he did not 
think it was the duty of the Senate or the House to reflect 
public opinion. He thought it the duty of Congress not to 
run after, but to lead and create public opinion ; yet one of 
the succeeding arguments against the bill used by this 
illogical and vindictive person showed why it ought to be 
logically supported. Explaining that when Senator Seward 
of New York introduced the bill in 1850 into the Chamber, 
it received but two votes, he declared that the present agi- 
tation arose from the efforts in Congress since, and asked, 
" Now, sir, whence did this cry for land originate ? Not 
among the people, but among their representatives. The 
public voice we hear is a mere echo of the voice that was 
first raised in this body, or in the other end of the Capitol." 
The Senator, by this admission, fell into his own trap, and 
showed that if public opinion had not led Congress on the 
question, certainly Congress must have led and created pub- 
lic opinion. It is to be remembered in this connection, and, 
as exhibiting a wanton opposition to the consideration of 
the Homestead bill, that this Senator, and others of his 
class, voted for'it on its final passage. 



CHAPTER V. 

HOMESTEAD BILL — CONTINUED. 

1860. 

Thirty-sixth Congress — Johnson's Speech — Denies that the Homestead 
Measure has any Connection with Slavery or Anti-Slavery — A Virginian 
Senator receives Light from a " Black Republican" — Johnson won't fol- 
low the New Lights of the Old Dominion — Precedents for the Homestead 
Policy — Law under Washington — Later Laws — Senator Mason's Action 
Now and Then — A " Sleepless Sentinel " and his Duties — Senator Pugh's 
Unanswerable Speech — Revival of Mason's Record — Shall Virginia Re- 
buke any other State — Tennessee can Take Care of Herself — Compli- 
ment from Douglas- — Voters on the Bill — Committees of Conference — 
Report Passed by Two-thirds of both Houses — President Buchanan Vetoes 
the Bill — The Veto Sustained — Unjust Reason for the Veto and its Sus- 
tainment — Davis Sustains the Veto — Pugh and Harlan Denounce it as a 
Quibble — The Wisdom and Grandeur of the Homestead Measure — His- 
torical Lessons from Land Laws — Powers of Congress to Give Land Away — 
Brougham on Feudal Aristocracy — Bacon on the Growth of "Nobility 
and Gentlemen." 

In the First Session of the Thirty-sixth Congress, April 
11, 1860, after introducing from the Committee on Public 
Lands another form of Homestead bill, Senator Johnson 
delivered an exceedingly able and telling speech, mainly in 
reply to Senator Mason of Virginia, touching that Senator's 
action, and the declarations of others with him, connect- 
ing the measure under discussion with the Slavery issue 
and the Republican party. The speech is historical and 
demonstrative in an eminent degree, and also affords a good 
specimen of Senator Johnson's clearness and force as a de- 
bater. For these reasons — and as much for its manner as 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 73 

its matter — I make some extracts, although the opening re- 
states some points already indicated : 

" But yesterday the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Doolittle] must 
involve in this discussion the Negro question ; and then, in reply, the 
Senator from Virginia must give us a dissertation on the same subject, 
administer a rebuke to the State of Tennessee, and assume to know 
where she stood and what her opinions and doctrines were. Sir, she 
has never disguised her opinions or her doctrines, and she does not 
disguise them now. It really seems to me that if some member of 
this body were to introduce the Ten Commandments for consideration 
and discussion, somebody would find a negro in them somewhere ; 
the Slavery agitation would come up. The chances are, that if they 
were introduced by a Northern man, he would argue that they had a 
tendency to diminish the area of slavery, to prevent the increase of 
the slave population, and in the end perhaps to abolish slavery ; 
while on the other hand, it* some Senator from the South were to in- 
troduce the Lord's Prayer, somebody would see a negro in it some- 
where. It would be argued just as the question might be presented, 
either upon the Ten Commandments or the Lord's Prayer, that the 
result would be a tendency to promote and advance slavery on the 
one hand, or on the other to diminish or abolish it. It is now time 
that the legislation of this country was directed to something else, 
and that some other thing were considered. I do believe that the 
country, North and South, is becoming sick and tired of this con- 
stant agitation of the Slavery question, to the exclusion of all other ; 
and I do trust and hope, in God's holy name, that there is a public 
judgment and public spirit in the country that will rise above this 
agitation, and the purposes for which it has been kept up. 

" But the Senator from Virginia informed us that he had had a 
flood of light shed on him ; I repeat that I was highly gratified to 
hear him say so, and I recur to it now more from the fact of being 
gratified at it than any thing else. He seemed to rise and come for- 
ward into the discussion with that kind of renewed energy, infor- 
mation and light that Paul had when he was travelling from 
Jerusalem to Damascus, and was struck blind with the refulgence of 
light thrown on his mind ; but Paul inquired of the Lord what he 
would have him do. Whether the conduct of the Senator from 
Wisconsin has had the same influence on the Senator from Virginia 
I will not undertake to say, but if it were improper and dangerous 
to associate the Ilomestead measure with Black Republicanism, as it 
is commonly called, or the Republican party, I will say — for I do not 
use the term in derision — would it not really be dangerous and ob- 

4 



74 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

jectionable to receive a flood of light from a Republican ? One of 
that party has shed light on this occasion, as the Senator from Vir- 
ginia admits. Will the Senator receive light from such a source ? 

" But when we come to examine the Homestead proposition, where 
do we start with it ? I want the Senator's attention. We start with 
it in 1791, under the Administration of General Washington, and I 
think he was from the Old Dominion. In 1791 the first Homestead 
proposition was introduced, and in the language of the law, it was 
enacted — 

' " That four hundred acres of land be given to each of those per- 
sons who, in the year 1783, were heads of families at Yinccnnes, or 
the Illinois country, or the Mississippi, and who since that time have 
removed from one of the said places to the other ; but the Governor 
of the Territory northwest of the Ohio is hereby directed to cause 
the same to be laid out for them at then- own expense, etc' 

" That law makes use of the word ' give,' and it received the ap- 
proval of General Washington. I think that is tolerably good 
company. Tennessee is willing to associate with Washington, and 
especially upon Homestead propositions. The law was approved by 
the immortal Washington. I think he was about as great a man as 
any of the modern lights ; and so far as I am concerned, I prefer follow- 
ing in the lead the larger instead of what I consider the lesser lights. 
What next do we find on this subject ? Mr. Jefferson recommended in 
one of his messasres to the Congress of the United States the Home- 
stead policy. In the Administrations of Washington and Jefferson this 
policy was inaugurated by this Government. I prefer to follow the 
lead and be associated with Washington and Jefferson, than the 
lights that now shine from the Old Dominion. There are forty-four 
precedents of laws approved and sanctioned by various Presidents, 
running through every Administration from Thomas Jefferson down 
to the present time, carrying out the same principle. Where did 
this policy have its origin ? Where did it start ? Its very germ 
commenced with Virginia, and it has been followed up and brought 
down to the present time. But, without dwelling on all the cases, I 
will refer to what was done in 1850. The fourth section of ' An Act 
to create the office of Surveyor-General of Public Lands in Oregon, 
and to provide for the survey and to make donations to settlers on 
the same public lands,' approved in 1850, is in these words : 

" 'Sec. 4. And he it further t nacted, That there shall be and hereby 
is granted to every white settler or occupant of the public lands, 
American half-breed Indians included, above* the age of eighteen 
years, being a citizen of the United States, or having made a decla- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 75 

ration, according to law, of his intention to become a citizen, or who 
shall become a resident thereof on or before the first day of December, 
1850, and who shall have resided upon and cultivated the same for 
four consecutive years, and who shall otheiwise conform to the pro- 
visions of this Act, the quantity of one half-section, or three hun- 
dred and twenty acres of land, if a single man, and if a married 
man, or if he shall become married within one year from the 1st day 
of December, 1850, the quantity of one section, or six hundred and 
forty acres, one-half to himself, and the other half to his wife, to be 
held by her in her own right.' — Statutes at Large, Vol. ix. p. 497. 

" There is a Homestead bill ! There is a grant of six hundred and 
forty acres to a married man, and three hundred and twenty acres to 
a single one, not being the head of a family, but twenty-one years 
of age. That was jiassed in 1850. I should like to know where the 
vigilant and watchful Senator from Virginia was when that law 
passed. I presume that this flood of light had not been shed. He 
did not see its bearings and tendencies as he seems to understand 
and see them now. How did the Senator vote upon that question ? 
I suppose the Senator knows ; for surely a measure so important, 
and embracing principles so sacred and vital, could not have passed 
through this body without the Senator's knowing how he recorded 
his vote. Where was this faithful sentinel that should have been 
standing on the watchtower, and should have sounded the alarm and 
aroused the people of the United States to the dangerous inroad that 
was being made on their rights and institutions ? Where was he ? 
Did he speak ? Did he say ' yea ' or ' nay,' either by speech or vote ? 
No ; but he sat with his arms folded, and allowed this " infamous 
measure, this agrarian measure," that was to work such dangerous 
influence upon certain institutions of the country, to pass without 
saying either ' yea ' or ' nay.' 

" There was one Homestead proposition passed in 1850. Yesterday 
I quoted a law passed in 1854, and it seemed to be a little difficult 
for Senators to understand it. One Senator understood it one way, 
another understood it another. Sometimes it is a good plan to 
examine and see how a thing is. One said that the law of 1854 was 
to give homesteads to New Mexico, and if they were given in 
New Mexico and not in Kansas, that would change -the prin- 
ciple ! Now I should like to know the difference in principle. 
But let us see how the thing stands. I read one section from 
the Act of 1850 ; and before I could get to read another sec- 
tion, the Senator from Missouri [Mr. Green] took the floor, and made 
an issue with me ; and then the Senator from Virginia resumed the 
floor, and did not permit me to read another section and make it 



76 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

understood. The Act of 1854 is entitled ' An Act to establish the 
office of Surveyor-General of New Mexico, Kansas and Nebraska, to 
grant donations to actual settlers therein, and for other purposes.' 
Well, what do we find in the second section of the act ? 

"'Sec. 2. And he it further enacted, That, to every white male 
citizen of the United States, or every white male above the age of 
twenty-one years, who has declared his intention to become a citizen, 
and who was residing in said Territory prior to the 1st of January, 
1853, and who may still be residing there, there shall be and hereby 
is donated one quarter-section, or one hundred and sixty acres of 
land. And to every white male citizen of the United States, or any 
white male above the age of twenty-one years, who has declared his 
intention to become a citizen, and who shall have removed, or shall 
remove to and settle in said Territory between the 1st day of Jan- 
uary, 1853, and the 1st day of January, 1858, there shall, in like 
manner, be donated one quarter-section, or one hundred and sixty 
acres, on condition of actual settlement and cultivation for not less 
than four years.' — Statutes at Large, Vol. x. p. 308. 

" There is a clear and distinct grant ; but the answer was, that it 
was not a homestead, because the grant was made in New Mexico. 
Would there be any difference of principle between holding out 
inducements to go to New Mexico to free homes, and holding out 
inducements to go any where else ? What is the difference ? Even 
in regard to New Mexico, where there was a prospect of slavery, 
here was a bill inviting settlers to go into the Territory and take the 
land free, and to carry out this very disastrous idea in reference to 
slavery that the Senator from Virginia speaks of. And where is he ? 
Yesterday when we referred to it, the Journal was produced to show 
that there was no vote taken on it ; and the answer to the principle 
and the inconsistency I was exhibiting was, that ' donated ' was bad 
English ; as if thereby to escape from the inconsistency in which 
the Senator was involved." 

" Mr. Mason. — I think, if the Senator heard me, he will recollect 
that I said : I did not remember how I had voted upon that law, 
but the probability was I had voted for it ; but so far from attempt- 
ing to escape from any responsibility as to my vote, I distinctly 
declared that it was a matter of not the slightest consequence to me, 
so far as that policy was concerned, how I voted, and that I pre- 
sumed I voted for it." 

" Mr. Johnson of Tennessee.— Well, it is a Homestead proposi- 
tion, embracing the precise idea of this measure and going to a 
greater extent, being more enlarged than the bill under considera- 
tion. The Senator sat by and permitted a bill to pass, so obnoxious. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 77 

and so disastrous, as he now says, especially in reference to the 
slavery interest, and that, too, with his great literary qualifications, 
when the bill not only established the Homestead policy, but he 
actually permitted it to pass in bad grammar. 

" Mr. Mason. — That was wrong, I admit. [Laughter.] 
" Mr. Johnson of Tennessee. — But let us travel on a little fur- 
ther. That was in New Mexico. Next we come right over into 
Kansas, now in the midst of the Emigrant Aid Society ; and see how 
it operates when we get over into Kansas. We find this is the law 
now providing for pre-emption there. I read from the same law 
which I have just quoted : 

" ' Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That all the lands to which 
the Indian title has been or shall be extinguished in said Territories 
of Nebraska and Kansas, shall be subject to the operation of the 
Pre-emption Act of 4th September, 1841, and under the conditions, 
restrictions, and stipulations therein mentioned: Provided, however. 
That where unsurveyed lands are claimed by pre-emption, notice of 
the specific tracts shall be filed within three months after the survey 
has been made in the field,' etc. — Statutes at Large, Vol. x. p. 810. 

" These acts were referred to by the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Pugh] 
the other day. He was referring to them in the range of precedents, 
in the speech that he made on this subject, vindicating the measure 
against the objections that were made both as to its expediency and 
constitutionality. He referred to this as one of the precedents, and 
made an argument (permit me to say here in parenthesis) that can- 
not be answered. Some may attempt, as some have attempted, to 
answer it ; but it cannot be answered. Why try to associate the 
measure with prejudices that may exist North or South ? if it is 
unconstitutional, come up and meet it on constitutional grounds. 
If it be inexpedient and dangerous, show it to be so. But here is a 
pre-emption granted, in Kansas, and when ? In 1854, at the time 
of all the alarm in reference to emigrant aid societies ; where was 
the vigilant, sleepless sentinel then ? Where was he who came 
forth with such power and eloquence yesterday, after receiving that 
new flood of light — from a Republican source, too ? 

" In 1850, a homestead was granted. In 1854, in the midst of the 
excitement about emigrant aid societies, an act was passed grant- 
ing homesteads and pre-emptions to young men who were not heads 
of families. Any body could go into Kansas and squat down upon 
land. Inducements were held out for them to run in. Where was 
this sentinel that has now become so alarmed, and who wants to 
know how Tennessee can stand up by such a proposition ? Was he 
here, and did not understand the measure ? Was he here, understand- 



*8 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ing it and standing upon the watchtower as the faithful sentinel, and 
did not sound the alarm ? Was he here, and did not say to those in- 
side the citadel that the enemy was at the gate ? If he were, and 
knew it to be so, I ask why a sentinel of that kind, entertaining the 
views he does in reference to this subject, when he saw such a dan- 
gerous encroachment upon the institution peculiar to the South, did 
not sound the alarm ? Failing to do so, knowing how the facts 
9tand, he is no longer entitled to the confidence of those who placed 
him here. If he were here, and had not sagacity or acumen enough 
to see it, or if his mind was not so constructed as to go from cause 
to effect and look a little into the distance and see the operation of 
this pre-emption law ; if he has not been enlightened until he has 
received light from Republicans, his mind is dark and not to be 
trusted. A sentinel, standing on the watchtower, to have eyes and 
not see, ears and not hear, a tongue and not speak, deserves to be 
taken down and another put in his place. Sir, think of the mariner 
who is placed on deck, when he descries in the distance the 
approaching storm, or the man who is familiar with the forest, and 
hears the roaring of the trees— an indication of the whirlwind — 
and will be so listless, so indifferent, as not to sound the alarm that 
danger is approaching ! I say he is an unworthy and unfaithful 
sentinel ! 

" When the Senator talks about the representatives of Tennessee, 
or Kentucky, or any other State, I desire to know where he was 
when these things were being done ? Did he vote ? It seems some 
gentlemen thought yesterday that they got him out of the dilemma, 
because he did not vote. When a bill is before the Senate, and it 
passes and no objection is made, it is understood that it receives the 
sanction of the body — it has at least the tacit consent of all — and 
every member here is committed to the passage of the bill. If there 
was all this danger, would it not have been the duty of the Senator 
to rise in his place, sound the alarm, call for the yeas and nays, and 
let the country know where all parties stood ? 

" Then we see where the Senator stood in 1854, and where he 
stood in 1850. Now let us follow this history a little further, and 
see where it will carry us. What is the proposition now before the 
Senate ? It is to grant a homestead. It is true the Senator from 
Missouri [Mr. Green] became very learned the other day in refer- 
ence to the term " homestead," as though there was any thing in the 
christening of a child. The long and short of the bill is, to grant a 
man a homestead, embracing so many acres. That is the object of 
it. I do not care whether you call it a homestead or by any other 
name. The substance is what we want. It is a home, an abiding- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON ?9 

place for a man, his wife and children ; and I think if we take the 
ordinary meaning, as given by our lexicographers, homestead is the 
proper name. It embraces the building and the inclosure about it, 
which is commonly denominated a homestead. As to the idea that 
it must be made perpetual, there is nothing in it. Homesteads can 
be changed as well as any thing else. Then the bill provides that 
men shall get homes at low rates, reasonable prices ; that it shall be 
placed in the power of every one to get a home ; and it is not 
to be taken out of that which belongs to every body else. There 
was a Homestead bill before the Senate in 1854— at a time of great 
excitement and danger. To that bill Mr. Hunter, then and now a 
Senator from Virginia, offered an amendment, and in his amendment 
there was one section which I will read : 

" ' Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the person applying for 
the benefit of the eighth section of this act shall, upon application to 
the Register of the Land Office in which he or she is about to make 
such entry, make affidavit before the said Register that he or she is the 
head of a family, or is twenty-one years of age, and that such appli- 
cation is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and those 
specially mentioned herein, and not either directly or iudirectly for 
the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever ; and 
upon making the affidavit as herein required, and filing it -with the 
Register, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity 
of land specified: Provided, however, That no certificate snail be 
given or patent issued thereafter, until the expiration of five years 
from the date of such entry, and until the person or persons entitled 
to the land so entered shall have paid for the same twenty-rive cents 
per acre, or if the lands have been in market more than twenty 
years, twelve and a-half cents per acre.' 

" This was the amendment offered by Mr. Hunter to the Home- 
stead bill of 1854, which passed the House of Representatives by 
nearly a majority of two-thirds ; and the Journal gives the vote 
upon it, which I will read : 

" ' On the question to agree to the said amendment as amended, 

" ' It was determined in the affirmative — yeas, 34 ; nays, 13. 

" ' On motion of Mr. Adams, 

" ' The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the Senators 
present, 

" ' Those who voted in the affirmative are : Messrs. Adams, Atchi- 
son, Benjamin, Bright, Brodhead, Brown, Butler, Cass, Clay, Dodge 
of Wisconsin, Dodge of Iowa, Douglas, Evans, Fitzpatrick, Geyer, 
Gwin, Houston, Hunter, James, Johnson, Jones of Iowa, Mallory, 
Mason, Pettit, Rusk, Sebastian, Shields, Slid ell, Stuart, Thompson 
of Kentucky, Thompson of New Jersey, Toombs, Toucey, and 
Walker.' 



80 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Before, we liad not tlie Senator's vote, but we had his tacit con- 
sent ; but here stands the vote of the gentleman who is arraigning 
Tennessee, to reduce the price of the public land and let a man have 
it at twelve and a-half cents an acre, according to a proposition intro- 
duced by his own colleague. Where does he stand now ? I think 
Tennessee will compare, at least, favorably with the Old Dominion in 
that particular. But again : 

" ' On motion of Mr. Fitzpatrick to amend the amendment pro- 
posed by Mr. Hunter, by inserting after the word " acre," in the 
first section, sixteenth line, "and all lands which shall have been 
offered at public sale, and shall remain unsold thirty years thereafter, 
shall be reduced to a price of twelve and a-half cents an acre,' " 

the yeas and nays were again called; and the Senator from Vir- 
ginia a second time recorded his vote to reduce the price of the land 
to twelve and a-half cents an acre. Then came the question on the 
first passage of the bill : 

" ' The bill (H. R. No. 87) to grant a homestead of one hundred 
and sixty acres of the public lands to actual settlers, was read the 
third time, as amended ; and, having been further amended, by unan- 
imous consent, on the motion of Mr. Pettit, the title was amended ; 
and, 

" ' On the question, Shall the bill pass ? 

" 'It was determined in the affirmative — yeas, 36; nays, 11. 

" < On motion of Mr. Weller, 

" ' The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the Senators 
present, 

" ' Those who voted in the affirmative are : 

" ' Messrs. Adams, Atchison, Bright, Brodhead, Brown, Butler, 
Cass, Chase, Clay, Dodge of Wisconsin, Dodge of Iowa, Douglas, 
Evans, Fitzpatrick, Geyer, Gwin, Hamlin, Houston, Hunter, James, 
Johnson, Jones of Iowa, Mallory, Mason, Pettit, Rusk, Sebastian, 
Shields, Slidell, Stuart, Sumner, Thompson of New Jersey, Toombs, 
Toucey, Walker, and Weller.' 

" The Senator was enlightened a little yesterday ; I want to en- 
lighten him more to-day. I doubt very much if he remembers 
exactly what he did on all these questions sometimes, and the refresh- 
ing of the memory is of no disadvantage to any of us. I think that 
his sj^eech yesterday came with no very good grace from a Senator 
with this sort of record. How do you stand when you talk about 
the influence on the Slavery question. Does not reducing land to 
twelve and a-half cents induce settlements ? What is the proposi- 
tion under consideration ? It is to reduce the price to twelve and 
a-half cents an acre in one bill, and in the other ten dollars for the 
whole one hundred and sixty acres, and paying office fees. Where 



OF ANDREW JOUXSOK 81 

is the difference in principle ? Where is the enormity of the one that 
does not exist in the other ? Where is the clanger to the institution 
of slavery growing out of the adoption of the one measure that does 
not grow out of the other ? 

" Virginia, under a system of bounty land warrants to her Revolu- 
tionary soldiers and others, has received nearly two million five 
hunched thousand acres of land ; and when we stand with Virginia, 
and, commencing with Washington, with every Administration to 
the present time, are we to be arraigned and taunted with our asso- 
ciation ? When and where did the pre-emption policy start ? Did 
it not start with General Jackson? When and where did the gradu- 
ation policy start ? Did it not start with General Jackson ? Is not 
Tennessee standing now where she stood then ? What is the Home- 
stead policy ? It is a part and parcel of the same great idea of car- 
rying the public lands into the possession of every man that will take 
them and make a proper use of them. We stand where Washington 
Btood. We stand where Jefferson stood. We stand whore all the 
Democratic Administrations have stood, and even where the Senator 
himself has heretofore stood. 

" Where does the gentleman get his association, and what is it for ? 
Instead of relying on the argument of the question, he tries to asso- 
ciate with it a prejudice with which he thinks it can be struck with 
much more ease and force than by meeting the question upon argu- 
ment. Virginia is to rebuke Tennessee on this subject, talking 
about making free States ! Is Virginia to rebuke any other State in 
this Confederacy in reference to free States ? Go back to the ordi- 
nance of 1787, first brought forward by Mr. Jefferson in 1784; go 
back to the surrender of public lands in the Northwest, which I 
never conceded were Virginia's more than any other State's — but let 
that be as it may, I will not argue it now; she assumed that they 
were hers ; but the surrender of her territory resulted in the creation 
of five free States, all now admitted into this Confederacy with their 
Senators on this floor. Is Virginia to rebuke Tennessee, alarmed at 
the creation of free States? Those States have fallen from your 
hands. Are you dissatisfied with them ? Do you want to turn them 
out of the Union ? Tennessee prefers to follow principle, understand- 
ing, that, in the pursuit of correct principle, we can never reach a 
wrong conclusion ; and although some become alarmed and are car- 
ried off by the ad captandum slang of the day, Tennessee intends to 
stand on principle and intends to pursue it unalterably and unswerv- 
ingly, as her own noble rivers that come rushing from her mountain 
rides, and make their way down her valleys and through her plains 
in their majestic career to the great Father of waters. Here Tcnnes- 
6 



I 



82 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

see intends to stand firm upon principle — as firm and unyielding as 
her own native mountains, with their craggy and projecting brows, 
rock-ribbed, and as ancient as the sun. She does not stand here to 
be rebuked by any State or the Senator from any State. Now, as 
heretofore, in the field or in council-chamber, she can take care of 
herself.* 

He again met the property argument of Senators, rebuked 
the idea that " the Senate was to be obeyed and not the 
people ;" defended the poor man against the charge of be- 
ing dishonest simply because he was poor ; at the same 
time explaining that his bill was not for "paupers, for misera- 
ble lazzaroni, for persons from lazar-houses, for vagabonds," 
but for men who had arms, muscles and willing hearts to 
work. What business would a vagabond have on one hundred 
and sixty acres of land ? As a refugiampeccatorum, to hedge 
Johnson and his bill round with a party wall, and separate 
his measure from a national stand-point, the charge of 
" Black Republicanism" was leveled against both. In reply, 
lie said, " Not to be vain or egotistic, or to claim any thing 
from the Democratic party, I want to repeat, in conclusion, 
that this is emphatically a Democratic measure, inaugurated 
by the Democracy ; and the Republican party have only 
shown their sagacity, as I remarked before, in one sense, 
in coming forward and trying to appropriate that which 
they know meets the approbation of the popular heart. 
They show their good sense in it ; but because they will 
now go for my measure, or for a Democratic measure, I shall 
not turn against it." 

This spirited effort led to sharp and personal rejoinders 
from Senator Mason, avIio, as Johnson said, spoke in " oracu- 
lar language, as if all should not only hear, but obey him ;" 
and from Senator Wigfall of Texas, who carried out into 
opposite extremes the principles upon which Johnson de- 
fended the poor, struggling and uneducated masses, by 
saying the Senator from Tennessee made an attack upon 

* Congressional Globe, First Session, Thirty-sixth Congress, p. 1650, et seq. 



OF ANDREW JOHXSON. 



83 



education generally. Douglas, while declining to prolong 
the debate, as his views had been known for years on the 
measure, declared that " he could not, if he desired to do 
so, add any thing to the force and power of the argument 
presented by the Senator from Tennessee to-day on the 
subject." 

On the 10th of May the bill passed the Senate by a vote 
of 44 to 8, as follows : 



Anthony, of Rhode Island 
Bigler, of Pennsylvania 
Bingham, of Michigan 
Bright, of Indiana 
Brown, of Mississippi 
Cameron, of Pennsylvania 
Chandler, of Michigan 
Chesnut, of South Carolina 
Clark, of New Hampshire 
Clay, of Alabama 
Collamer, of Vermont 
Davis, of Mississippi 
Dixon, of Connecticut 
Doolittle, of Wisconsin 
Douglas, of Illinois 
Durkee, of Wisconsin 
Fitzpatrick, of Alabama 
Foster, of Connecticut 
Green, of Missouri 
Grimes, of Iowa 
Gwin, of California 
Hale, of New Hampshire 



YEAS. 

Hammond, of South Carolina 
Harlan, of Iowa 
Hemphill, of Texas 
Johnson, of Arkansas 
Johnson, of Tennessee 
King, of New York 
Lane, of Oregon 
Latham, of California 
Nicholson, of Tennessee 
Polk, of Missouri 
Pugh, of Ohio 
Rice, of Minnesota 
Sebastian, of Arkansas 
Seward, of New York 
Slidell, of Louisiana 
Sumner, of Massachusetts 
Ten Eyck, of New Jersey 
Trumbull, of Illinois 
Wade, of Ohio 
Wilkinson, of Minnesota 
Wilson, of Massachusetts 
Yulee, of Florida — 44. 



Bragg, of North Carolina 
Clingman, of North Carolina 
Hamlin, of Maine 
Hunter, 



of Virginia 



Nx\.TS. 

Mason, of Virginia 
Pearce, of Maryland 
Powell, of Kentucky 
Toombs, of Georgia — 8. 



On the next day the House was informed of the action 
by the Senate. On the 19th the bill was referred to the 



8-4 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICE* 



House Committee on Public Lands. On the 21st the 
House adopted a substitute by a vote of 162 to G3, and 
thus amended, the Homestead bill was passed by the fol- 



lowing vote 



Adams, of Massachusetts 
Aldricb, of Minnesota 
Allen, of Ohio 
Alley, of Massachusetts 
Babbitt, of Pennsylvania 
Barrett, of Missouri 
Beale, of New York 
Bingham, of Ohio 
Blair, of Missouri 
Blake, of Ohio 
Brayton, of Bhode Island 
Briggs, of New York 
Buffinton, of Massachusetts 
Butterfield, of New York 
Campbell, of Pennsylvania 

y, of Obio 

rane, of New York 
Colfax, of Indiana 
Conkling, of New York 
Covode, of Pennsylvania 
C >x, of Obio 
Davis, of Indiana 
Delano, of Mas etts 

Duell, of New Y 
Dunn, of Indiana 
Edgerton, of Ohio 
Edwards, of New Hampshire 
Eliot, of Massachusetts 
Ely, of New York 

(on, of New York 
Ferry, of Connecticut 
Florence, of Pennsylvania 
Foster, of Maine 
Frank, of New York 
French, of Maine 
Grooch, of Massachusetts 
Graham, of New York 



YEAS. 



Grow, of Pennsylvania 
Helmick, of Ohio 
Holman, of Indiana 
Howard, of Michigan 
Humphrey, of New York 
Hutchins, of Ohio 
Irvine, of New York 
Junkin, of Pennsylvania 
Kellogg, of Michigan 
Kilgore, of Indiana 
Larabee, of Wisconsin 
Leach, of Michigan 
Lee, of New York 
Longnecker, of Pennsylvania 
Loomis, of Connecticut 
Lovejoy, of Illinois 
Maclay, of New York 
Marston, of New Hampshire 
Martin, of Ohio 
McKnight, of Pennsylvania 
McPherson, of Pennsylvania 
Montgomery, of Pennsylvania 
Moorhead, of Pennsylvania 
Morrill, of Vermont 
Morris, of Pennsylvania 
Morris, of Illinois 
Morse, of Maine 
Nixon, of New Jersey 
Pendleton, of Ohio 
Perry, of Maine 
Pettit, of Indiana 
Porter, of Indiana 
Potter, of Wisconsin 
Pottle, of New York 

-olds, of New York 
Puggs, of New Jersey 
Robinson, of Rhode Island 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 



35 



Robinson, of Illinois 
Royce, of Vermont 
Schwartz, of Pennsylvania 
Scranton, of Pennsylvania 
Sedgwick, of New York 
Slierman, of Ohio 
Sickles, of New York 
Soines, of Maine 
Spinner, of New York 
Stanton, of Ohio 
Stewart, of Pennsylvania 
Stout, of Oregon 
Stratton, of New Jersey 
Tappan, of New Hampshire 
Thayer, of Massachusetts 



Adams, of Kentucky 
Anderson, of Missouri 
Anderson, of Kentucky 
Ashmore, of South Carolina 
Avery, of Tennessee* 
Bocock, of Virginia 
Brabson, of Tennessee f 
Branch, of North Carolina 
Bristow, of Kentucky 
Burch, of California 
Clark, of Missouri 
Clopton, of Alabama 
Cobb, of Alabama 
Craige, of North Carolina 
Curry, of Alabama 
De Jarnette, of Virginia 
Edmundson, of Virginia 
Etheridge, of Tennessee { 
Gartrell, of Georgia 
Gilmer, of North Carolina 
Hamilton, of Texas 
Hardeman, of Georgia 
Hams, of Maryland 
Harris, of Virginia 



Tompkins, of Ohio 
Train, of Massachusetts 
Trimble, of Ohio 
Vandever, of Iowa 
Van Wyck, of New York 
Wade, of Ohio 
Waldron, of Michigan 
Walton, of Vermont 
Washburne, of Illinois 
Washburn, of Maine 
Wells, of New York 
Wilson, of Indiana 
Windom, of Minnesota 
Woodruff, of Connecticut — 103. 



NAYS. 

Hatton, of Tennessee! 
Hawkins, of Florida 
Hill, of Georgia 
Hughes, of Maryland 
Jenkins, of Virginia 
Leach, of North Carolina 
Love, of Georgia 
Mallory, of Kentucky 
Maynard, of Tennessee f 
McQueen, of South Carolina 
Millson, of Virginia 
Moore, of Kentucky 
Nelson, of Tennessee t 
Noell, of Missouri 
Peyton, of Kentucky 
Phelps, of Missouri 
Pryor, of Virginia 
Quarles, of Tennessee f 
Reagan; of Texas 
Ruffin, of North Carolina 
Rust, of Arkansas 
Scott, of California 
Singleton, of Missouri 
Stewart, of Maryland 



* Democrat. 



t "Native Americans. 



I Whig. 



86 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Stokes, of Tennessee f Webster, of Maryland 

Taylor, of Louisiana Winslow, of North Carolina 

Thomas, of Tennessee * Wright, of Tennessee * —55. 
Vance, of North Carolina 

It is worthy of remark that the whole of the Tennessee 
delegation in the House of Representatives, the entire ten 
members, voted against the Homestead bill. The con- 
trolling- power of the delegation was " American. 7 ' The 
ten embraced one Whig, three Democrats, and six elected 
by the so-called "American" party. Mr. A. 0. P. Nicholson, 
the Senatorial colleague of Senator Johnson, voted for the 
bill. 

After three committees of conference, of which Senator 
Johnson was a leading member, had met and discussed the 
provisions of the bill, a majority of the managers on the 
part of both Houses agreed on a report, which was presented 
by Senator Johnson to the one, and by Mr. Schuyler Colfax 
to the other, respectively, on June 19. 

As passed, the Senate bill provided that the pre-emptors 
then upon the public lands might remain there two years 
before they should be required to purchase their lands, but 
should then pay for them at the rate of one dollar twenty-five 
cents per acre. The House, regarding this as removing the 
pre-emptors from within the purview of the benefits which 
Avould apply to subsequent settlers, refused to accede to it. 
A compromise was effected, and the House changed the bill 
so as to protect the thousands of pre-emptors now on Gov- 
ernment hind " to be advertised in the fall for sale, from land 
sales for at least two years, and to allow them then to secure 
their homes at one-half the Government price, namely, sixty- 
two and a-half cents per acre. Compromises on some other 
points of disagreement were effected, as the best that could 
be done at the period, and the report agreed upon was con- 

* Democrats. + " Native American." 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 87 

curred in by both Houses on the day of its presenta- 
tion* 

The bill was presented to President Buchanan for approval 
on the 20th, but was vetoed by a message to the Senate on 
the 23d ; and thus was the patient labor and enthusiastic 
devotion of years nullified by the Presidential veto. 

Of course, Senator Johnson did not permit his measure 
to fall under the veto without a vigorous effort to keep it 
in a position to withstand the powerful blow, but it was in 
vain. There seemed to be an understanding between John- 
son's antagonists, many of whom voted for the bill, and the 
President, that the former would sustain the latter if he 
vetoed it. In this, as in all other measures of his Adminis- 
tration, President Buchanan proved hiiriself to be completely 
under the control of the conspirators ; and the conclusion 
of his official term in its cowardly and parricidal postpone- 
ment of action against the traitors, was only the natural 
result of the plans into which Mr. Buchanan had been led 
by a hatred of Douglas on the one hand, and an obsequious 
abandonment of his power into the hands of the Southern 
leaders on the other, to crush the great Illinois Senator. In 
furthering Mr. Buchanan's purposes for the annihilation of 
Douglas, the Southern leaders were less successful than in 
using the power of the Government to foster treason. On 
every necessary point they used Mr. Buchanan to forward 
their designs : and it cannot be doubted that the veto was 
incited through fear of the effect of a Homestead bill, if 
carried into a law, on the population of the South. One 
of the charges made against the measure was, that it would 
induce numbers of men to leave the Southern States. In 
view of the armed revolt which was then in contempla- 
tion, the Southern leaders did not want any such exodus of 

* The vote to concur in the report of the Committee of Conference which 
finally framed the Homestead law, stood thus : In the Senate— yeas, 36 ; nays, 2. 
In the Ilouse — yeas, 115; nays, 51. 



88 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

their fighting material " to fresh fields and pastures new." 
Johnson's Southern antagonists seemed to have acted all 
ugh their opposition to his bill with the full knowledge 
that Mr. Buchanan would waylay, by a veto, that which 
felt would assuredly pass by a vote. As early as 
May, 1858, Senator Biggs of North Carolina, in reply to 
Senator Johnson's statement that the public mind was made 
up in reference to the measure, said : " The Senator from 
Tennessee assumes that the Homestead bill — the favorite of 
his — is to pass through both branches of Congress, and is to 
be approved by the President. Now, I do not profess to 
know any thing about the opinion of the President on this 
particular measure, but for the purpose of excluding a con- 
clusion, I desire to say that if I understand the position of 
the President of the United States in regard to squandering 
the public lands, this is the last measure to which he will ever 
consent to give his approbation ; but I trust it will be stran- 
gled in the two Houses of Congress, as it ought to be. If, 
however, it should pass through both Houses, I entertain a 
confident hope that the President of the United States will 
exercise his constitutional power of vetoing such a measure." 
Mr. Biggs could not have based such an opinion on Mr. 
Buchanan's publicly expressed position on the question, but 
on some more recent instruction ; as Mr. Buchanan in his 
Inaugural Address on the 4th of March, 1857, in presence of 
the highest legal and legislative functionaries of the Repub- 
lic and the representatives of the civilized nations of the 
world, used the following language, which would seem to 
indicate the exact provisions of the bill which he now vetoed. 
He said : 

" No nation, in the tide of time, has ever been blessed 
with so noble an inheritance as we enjoy in the public lands. 
In administering this important trust, while it may be wise 
to grant portions of them for the improvement of the re- 
mainder, yet we should never forget that it is our cardinal 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 89 

policy to reserve these lands as ranch as may be for actual 
settlers, and this at moderate prices. We shall thus not only- 
best promote the prosperity of the new States, by furnishing 
them a hardy and independent race of honest and industrious 
citizens, but shall secure homes for our children and our 
children's children, as well as those exiles from foreign shores 
who may seek in this country to improve their condition and 
to enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty. Such 
emigrants have done much to promote the growth and pros- 
perity of the country. They have proved faithful both in 
peace and in war. After becoming citizens, they are enti- 
tled, under the Constitution and laws, to be placed on per- 
fect equality with native-born citizens, and in this character 
they should ever be kindly recognized." 

Would it not seem that the bill under consideration was 
drafted with an eye to the propositions contained herein — a 
portion of the lands being appropriated for the improve- 
ment of the remainder, and the balance being, as far as pos- 
sible, reserved to " actual settlers," and as homes " for our 
children and our children's children ;" and at the same time 
opening the door to the exiles of other countries to come 
and cultivate these lands, and, in Mr. Buchanan's language, 
" to improve their condition, and to- enjoy the bit of 

civil and religious liberty ?" Senator Johnson, alluding to 
these views of Mr. Buchanan, said : " There is bread and 
work for all ; let them all come, and comply with the law."* 

In the face of such stated views and the paramount fact, 
not to be overlooked, that the measure passed by more than 
a two-thirds vote in each House, the control of the conspira- 
tors over Mr. Buchanan must have been overwhelming to 
compel him to veto a measure which, in substance, Avas 
approved by George Washington, sustained by Thomas 
Jefferson, advocated by Andrew Jackson, and promised by 
himself. The judgment of history will be, that from his 

* Congressional Globe, First Session, Thirty-sixth Congress. 



90 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

treasonable surroundings, and his leagues against the rights 
of the people at the periods of their severest trouble, James 
Buchanan could not be expected to appear in the category 
of those — the Washingtons, Jefferson?, and Jacksons — who 
had laid the foundations and guarded the fabric of the 
people's liberties. 

Notwithstanding that Mr. Buchanan held out induce- 
ments in his inaugural for " exiles from foreign shores " to 
come and cultivate the soil, that portion of bis veto which 
supplied Jefferson Davis and his followers with the chief 
reason to sustain it was this very inducement " to foreign- 
ers." The plea — stupid and irrational on the very face of 
it, and egregiously ridiculous, when we remember the ordeal 
to which the bill was submitted in both Houses on these 
several committees of conference — was. that the bill put a 
foreigner on a better footing than a native citizen. Jef- 
ferson Davis, taking Buchanan's hint (after having voted for 
the bill), thought this a great objection, which, however 
"did not strike him until the message (veto) suggested it."* 
Davis voted for the bill lest his colleague from Mississippi, 
A. G. Brown, who was always the advocate of a Homestead 
measure, should reap undivided honor from the people of 
his State ; and took the lead in sustaining Mr. Buchanan's 
veto, on the shallowest of pretences, in the interest of the 
conspiracy. Senator Pugh of Ohio, a distinguished lawyer, 
examined the section of the bill upon which the Presidential 
pretext, and that of Davis and his followers, was founded, 
and declared it " a quibble." " It does not," he said, " rise 
above it;" and Senator Harlant declared it "beneath the 
dignity of a legal quibble." "No one," he said, "doubts 
that the President gives this part of the bill a construction 
not intended by the framer of the bill, or cither of the Com- 
mittees on Public Lands, or any one member of cither branch 

* ' nal Globe, First Session, Thirty-sixth Congress, p. 3-271. 

t At present, Secretary of the Interior. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 91 

of Congress ; and hence, if susceptible of such a construc- 
tion, it could be remedied by the passage of a joint resolu- 
tion in. less than thirty minutes." But it was not the object 
of the President or of, those controlling him to pass the 
Homestead bill ; hence the veto was sustained, two-thirds 
not having voted against the veto. 

I have dwelt on the history of Andrew Johnson's efforts 
in behalf of a Homestead bill, because the magnitude and 
grandeur, the wisdom and beneficence of the measure, can- 
not be over-rated or too greatly appreciated. Jn this 
chapter its merits have been variously indicated ; but it is 
a subject which admits of the widest illustration. It is as 
peculiarly grateful and beneficial to the people as the at- 
mosphere they breathe, and has met, as has been shown, the 
sincere approval of our most trusted and beloved patriot 
leaders. In a lecture delivered by Bancroft on Andrew 
Jackson," the beatings of the old hero's heart for the wel- 
fare of the people, in this respect, was timed with the pic- 
turesque force characteristic of the eminent historian, who 
said : 

" General Jackson was a pupil of the wilderness ; his heart was 
with the pioneers of American life toward the setting sun. No 
American statesman has ever embraced within his affections a 
scheme so liberal as that of Jackson. He longed to secure for them 
not pre-emption rights only, but more than pre-emption rights ; he 
longed to invite labor to take possession of the unoccupied fields 
without money and without price, with no obligation except the 
perpetual devotion of itself by allegiance to its country. Under the 
beneficent influence of his opinions, the sons of misfortune, the 
children of adventure, find their way to the uncultivated West. 
There in some wilderness glade, or in the thick forest of the fertile 
plain, or where the prairies most sparkle with flowers, they, like the 
wild bee, which sets them the example of industry, may choose their 
home, mark the extent of their possessions by driving stakes or 
blazing trees, shelter their log-cabin with the boughs and turf, and 
teach the virgin soil to yield itself to the plowshare. Theirs shall 

* At Washington, Judc 27, 1845. 



92 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

be the soil ; theirs the beautiful farms which they teach to be pro- 
ductive 

" Yet, beautiful and lovely as is this sceue, it still by far falls short 
of the ideal which lived in the affections of Jackson. His heart 
was ever with the pioneer ; his policy ever favored the diffusion of 
independent freeholds throughout the laboring classes of our land." 

It was remarked at the time, that popular as the subject 
was, still it did not appear to have attracted all the attention 
it deserved ; for the reason that American citizens in the 
full enjoyment of republican freedom, men into whose soul 
the iron of European despotism had never entered, did not 
fully realize the grandeur of this fundamental law. It is a 
great charter of liberty for the people, very unlike the Magna 
Charta of England, extorted by the barons from King John 
for a privileged few. The undisturbed possession of a free 
farm, which no power can tax without the consent of the 
possessor, through his representatives freely chosen, is the 
very essence of human liberty. It is only people who think 
deeply on the matter who thoroughly appreciate its wisdom 
and desire to be advised by it. The land question lias been 
one from which all the feuds of caste and class in the old 
countries have arisen ; and although, as many persons will 
argue, that there exists no urgent necessity for tf Homestead 
bill, land being abundant and comparatively cheap, unless in 
the immediate vicinity of cities and thickly populated dis- 
tricts, still the necessity does exist and constantly increases. 

Irrespective of the present humanity of such a law, any 
student of history must see how beneficial will be its results 
iu the future ; in adjusting an extensive source of welfare 
for the people, before powerful interests have a chance to 
grow up, and be affected by its operation. It is wise to 
settle such a question before a necessity exists of upturning 
one class of society for the benefit of the community. Good 
and timely legislation would adjust the land question in 
America for ever. One comprehensive organic law saves 



OF ANDREW JOIINSOK 93 

the necessity of hundreds of tinkering enactments adopted 
to remedy an original defect. And as to begin right is the 
great secret of good legislation, so some such act as John- 
son's Homcstend bill would prevent any complicated code 
regulating relations between landlords and tenants — for they 
would to a large extent be one. In European nations legis- 
lators cannot begin at the beginning, for they have to deal 
with the existing interests of castes and classes, and hence 
the continual patching without any perfect result. It is only 
by paternal despots, as it has been done in Austria and Prus- 
sia, or by bloody revolutions, as in France, that the strong- 
holds of feudalism are overthrown, and the soil distributed 
among the people in Europe. The effect of such a Homestead 
bill would soon be felt by the increase of the best kind of 
population ; an independent agricultural proprietary, the 
hardy, healthy tillers of the soil, the only sound basis on 
which a nation can stand. The increase of all the produc- 
tions of the country ; the increase of employment for the 
distributive classes ; the increase of commerce and manu- 
factures ; the decrease of poverty and disease, idleness and 
crime, would follow ; also the reduction of surplus labor and 
excessive competition in large cities, aid better, because 
more equable wages, more room, more food, and better habi- 
tations for the labor that remains. 

In a popular view of the land question, after Johns:- •• 
early efforts in the House of Representatives had drawn 
attention to the subject, it was shown that in all countries 
where the land tenure is secure the people advance in 
comfort, stability and content. It is the distribution of 
the land among the people, and the security of their ten- 
ures, that constitute the strength of the French people. 
For Paris is not France save in the eyes of politicians ; 
" the peasant proprietors do not participate in the revolu- 
tionary sentiments and designs of the capital." It is the 
freehold and happy homes of Switzerland that preserve that 



94 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Republic amidst the " cunning despotisms" which surround 
her. The greatness of Holland was laid by the industry of 
her small proprietors. " It was the breaking up of land 
monopoly by the energetic measures of Solon that saved 
Attica in his clay from destruction. It was the bold meas- 
ure of the overthrow of feudalism, by her king, that has 
made little Prussia, in our own time, one of the 'five great 
Powers of Europe.' It was the monopoly of the soil by a 
few proprietors that destroyed the Roman Republic in the 
meridian of its high civilization. Capital accumulated but 
men decayed. Landlordism has made beautiful ' Erin of the 
Streams' what she is, and it is the millstone around the 
neck of the British Empire that will yet drag her down to 
the bottom of her own element." 

Thus history, ancient, feudal and modern, presents exam- 
ples which should not be overlooked, and warnings which 
should command an equally devoted attention from all of 
our statesmen as that given to the subject by Andrew John- 
son. Past history probably did not so much inspire his 
thought and action as the necessity which experience taught. 
In this is to be found the very touchstone of the popularity 
of the idea, and all embraced within it ; while at the same 
time it is but strengthened by the teachings of history and 
•the fates of other nations. 

The United States Government is the largest landed 
proprietor in the world. Its acres of untilled soil are num- 
bered by the hundreds of millions. Of the area embraced 
within the limits of the Union, only about one-third is in the 
hands of private individuals. Nearly two-thirds belong to, 
or are subject to the disposition of the Federal Government. 
Under the general authority to dispose of, and make all 
needful regulations respecting the territory and other prop- 
erty of the United States, Congress has from time to time 
disposed of the territory for cash and on credit. Congress 
has disposed of the territory for school purposes and for 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 95 

internal improvement purposes, giving it to the States, to 
corporations, and to private companies, for these and other 
purposes. Congress has from time to time voted bounties 
to soldiers, to be paid in land ; and these bounties have been 
voted in time of war as an inducement to volunteer, and in 
time of peace as a naked gratuity. This legislation and 
these modes of disposing of territory have received the sanc- 
tion of all the Presidents and of every class of politicians. 
So far as precedent can go, it settles the question of power 
in this case. If Congress can sell the public lands on a 
credit, or for one dollar and a-quarter cash per acre, why 
may it not be sold for ten cents or one cent an acre. If 
Congress can give the new States, as it did in 1842, five 
hundred thousand acres each for internal improvement pur- 
poses ; if, as in the case of every new State, the sixteenth 
section in each township can be given for common-school 
purposes ; if, as in the case of Mississippi and most of the 
new States, Congress can give lands for seats of govern- 
ment, and for colleges and universities ; if, as in the case 
of the Mexican war, and in the case of our Indian wars, 
the honorably discharged soldiers can have lands given to 
him, is it not idle to dispute, as many have disputed, and to 
deny the plenary power of the Government to dispose of 
the public lands — to give them, if need be, to actual 
settlers?* 

We cannot, even with our vast extent of territory, be too 
anxious on the land question, or too solicitous to take action 
for the prevention in any future time of any such debasing 
state of existence within the Republic as that which results 
from the growth of a large landed proprietary. The de- 
grading influences of feudalism may exist in fact while not 
in name. The corner-stone, basis and bulwark of feudalism 
is the concentration of the soil in the hands of an aristoc- 

* Congressional Glolc, First Session, Thirty-second Congress. Brown. Seo 
passim references lo Public Lands. 



90 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

racy." The safety of a nation is the distribution of land in 
the hands of those who work it. 

The author of the Novum Organum distinguishes, among 
other remedies for the prevention of instability, sedition and 
trouble among the people, the cherishing of manufactures, 
the banishing of idleness, the improvement and husbanding 
of the soil ;t and further discourseth suggestively in a man- 
ner which may be applied to the subject under notice : 

" Let States that aim at greatness take heed how their no- 
bility and gentlemen do multiply too fast ; for that maketh 
the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain, 
driven out of heart and in effect but a gentleman's laborer. 
Even as you may see in coppice woods : if you leave your 
straddles too thick, you shall never have clean underwood, 
but shrubs and bushes. So in countries, if the gentlemen be 
too many, the commons will be base ; and you will bring it 
to that, that not the hundredth poll will be fit for an helmet ; 
especially as to the infantry, which is the nerve of an army ; 
and so there will be great population and little strength. 
This which I speak of hath been nowhere better seen than 
by comparing of England and France ; whereof England, 
though far less iii territory and population, hath been, never- 
theless, an overmatch, in regard the middle people of Eng- 

* Tbe feudal aristocracy was au adjunct of land. Hence the idea so invete- 
rately routed in modern Europe of the superiority of land-owners above men a" 
rich, and as well educated, and as well bred, whose property comes from otber 
sources, or whose income is derived from trades or professions. The effects of 
this prejudice are still felt far and wide in tbe society of every country at this 
day. It gives an undue preponderance to what is called the landed interest 
everywhere ; and it makes merchants and professional men always seek alli- 
ances with that body, and desire to take the earliest opportunity of belonging 
'///. hord Brougham, Vol. i. Chap. vii. 

I do nil! use the word " aristocracy" in any ad captamhnn sense ; but to dis- 
tinguish those who live more by idleness and have a contempt for labor, than 
those u ii i by great deeds or endowments are looked up to by the people as 
. e though of them. These latter form the aristocracy which pertains in the 
history of the Republic of the United States; it is the aristocracy of democracy 
and of which Jefferson, Henry, Roger Sherman, Nathaniel Green, Jackson, 
Douglas, Lincoln and Johnson are striking examples. 

t Essays, roZ, by Francis Bacon. Lord Verulam. 



OF ANDRE W JOIINS OR. 9 7 

land make good soldiers, which the peasants of France do 
not ; and herein the device of King Henry VII. (whereof I 
have spoken in the history of his life) was profound and 
admirable, in making farms and houses of husbandry of a 
standard ; that is, maintained with such a proportion of 
land unto them as may breed a subject to live in convenient 
plenty and no servile condition ; and to keep the plow in 
the hands of the owners, and not mere hirelings ; and thus 
indeed you shall attain to Virgil's character, which he gives 
to ancient Italy, 

" Terra potens armis atque ubere glebse."* 

* A land powerful in arms and in richness of soil. — (Essays, On the Trite 
Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates.) 



CHAPTER VI 



Retrenchment — The Army Bill to make more Officers and Skeleton Regi- 
ments — Substitute offered by Johnson — His Reason for Opposing Davis' 
bill — No Permanent Increase of the Army — The Revenue of the State is 
the State — Congress Responsible for Reckless Expenditures — Cost of the 
Army from 1SU0 — The Total Expense of Government from the Same Period 

— Warning to the Democratic Party — Extract, from Speech against a Stand- 
ing Army — Constitutional Powers — Militia and Volunteers — The Power 
of Government Vested in the Citizen Soldiery — Washington on the Citizen 
Soldiery, the Army of the Constitution — Jeff. Davis on Volunteers — 
"Cheap" Men for the Army — European Armies — Davis slights General 
Scott — Johnson's Compliment to the Latter — Houston shows that Wash- 
ington and Jackson were only Military Men on Occasions of Necessity — 
Hunter Cornered — Iverson makes a Speech without a Subject — Defense of 
the Tennessee Heroes in the Revolutionary, 1812, Indian and Mexican Wars 
— Iverson Apologizes — The Tennessee Resolutions — Senator John Bell's 
Opposition to them — Johnson on Senatorial Aspirants for the Presidency 

— Bell not Johnson's " Competitor" — Sharp Debate — Explanations. 

In the Thirty-fifth Congress, Senator Johnson not only 
took an early opportunity to resuscitate the Homestead 
bill, but soon became distinguished by the earnestness with 
which he impressed on his colleagues the necessity of reform 
and retrenchment in financial affairs ; and his sedulous 
opposition to all measures which might by legislative sanc- 
tion be made a means of incurring public expenditure. The 
same experience which made him see the necessity of home- 
steads for the people also suggested to him the duty of 
holding the guardians of the people's Treasury to a strict 
.accountability. Senator Johnson, however, was not simply 
or demagogically desirous of making a show of public vir- 

(98) 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 99 

tue regarding- present expenditure ; lie was anxious that 
every precaution should be taken to prevent the necessity 
of further expense, or the possibility of the Government 
plunging into extravagance. Having, as Sir Thomas Brown 
recommends, " bid early defiance unto those vices" in himself, 
he knew he represented not only the wants but the wishes 
of the masses, and desired that the Government should re- 
flect that simplicity and economy which the masses feel it a 
duty to cultivate. Hence he early took grounds in favor of 
retrenchment on the Army bill, as proposed by Jefferson 
Davis, in anticipation of a Mormon war. 

On January 21, 1858, Senator Davis reported from the 
Committee on Militarv Affairs, a bill for the increase of 
the military establishment of the United States. The -bill 
proposed to add to each regiment of dragoons, cavalry, 
infantry and mounted riflemen two companies, and to in- 
crease the number of privates in each company in the field or 
on remote or frontier stations, from fifty-two to ninety-six. 
Among other provisions of the bill was, that regular promo- 
tions to vacancies occurring in the regimental grades of com- 
missioned officers of the United States Army, were to be by 
regiments or corps, instead of by arms of service. Senator 
Davis advocated the measure on the theory which he said 
was "handsomely illustrated by Mr. Calhoun," of creating 
a skeleton army in time of peace capable of sudden expan- 
sion in time of war to the exigencies of the occasion. He 
had no disposition to 'merely reduce expense by disbanding 
a few officers, when the present anticipated necessity ceased 
to exist : on the contrary, his desire was to have a greater 
number of skeleton regiments with more officers and fewer 
privates, which could be readily filled up and would give us 
the benefits of discipline at the commencement of a Avar. 

This bill and the mode of its advocacy attracted a great 
deal of attention and much vigorous debate. The increase 
of the standing army was especially objectionable, not only 



100 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

as regarded tlie expense at a period when the Treasury was 
not in a very flourishing condition, but as opposed to the 
spirit of the American system. Much recriminative criticism 
was evoked on the regular service and the volunteers re- 
spectivcly, Senator Davis defending and paying homage to 
the former. It was suggested by Senator Hale of New 
Hampshire, that if an increase was made in the Army, the 
idea that it would ever go back, or become smaller, as long 
as there was money or credit to maintain it, was too absurd 
to be spoken of. " There are," said he, "no backward tracks 
when our Government begins to expend money." 

Davis' bill was amended in various ways by the Senate, 
and for the bill as amended, Senator Wilson offered a sub- 
stitute, which he relinquished in favor of a substitute pre- 
sented by Senator Johnson on the 18th February, which, 
striking out all after the enacting clause, authorized the 
President, for the purpose of enforcing the laws of the 
United States to call for and accept the services of infantry 
volunteers, not exceeding four thousand both officers and 
men, to serve for and during the pending difficulties in the 
Mormon Territory. It was further provided that the com- 
panies should have the regulation number and elect their 
own officers ; be equipped at the national expense : that in 
case of wounds or disabilities during service, they should be 
entitled to all the benefits conferred on United States sol- 
diers ; and that " said officers, musicians and privates" au- 
thorized by the act be immediately disbanded at the termi- 
nation of the Utah difficulties. 

Senator Johnson was opposed to the Davis bill, because 
it provided for a permanent increase of the rank and file of 
the standing army. He was opposed to that on any occa- 
sion. Standing armies were contrary to the genius of our 
Government and to the temperament of the people. More- 
over, it seemed that undue advantage was taken of the crisis, 
such as it was, to advocate a permanent increase, and, by 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 101 

the light thrown on the course of Davis and his associ- 
ates since, this increase was, without doubt, intended to 
add strength to the ultra Southern party which would 
control the appointments. No doubt Senator Johnson saw 
through this, for he reminded the Senate that the President, 
while requesting an additional force, did not ask for a per- 
manent increase. 

It is usual to rebuke legislators who constantly advocate 
retrenchment ; to regard them as "wanting in public spirit," 
and as not coming up to that " grasp of purpose" which char- 
acterises statesmen. Senator Johnson was not to be swayed 
from his principles or purposes by any of these charges or 
innuendos. He believed, with Edmund Burke, that the reve- 
nue of the State is the State, and in its careful usage or 
extravagant expenditure can the life and character of the 
State be preserved or dissipated. ' After opposing the 
Standing Army bill, on principle, as against the spirit of the 
people, lie also threw himself against it as a means of un- 
necessary expenditure. He brought home to Congress the 
responsibility of sucli extravagance, as without legislation 
on the subject the Administration would be powerless. ' ; I 
wish to ask Democratic Senators," said he, " if this is a time 
to increase the expenditures of the Government ? You are 
responsible for the expenses of the Government. You have 
the majority. You have the control of the Treasury in your 
hands. It is idle to go before the country and talk before the 
people about the expenditures of the Administration. "Who 
hold the purse-strings of the nation ? When we run through 
the appropriations of tins Government, from its origin to 
the present time, we find that the appropriations have gene- 
rally outgone the expenditures. Who make the expendi- 
tures? The President may recommend for this and for 
that, an i lie may make extravagant recommendations ; but 
the query comes up. Is Congress bound to appropriate ? 
You, the appropriating power, hold the purse-strings of this 



102 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

nation in your hands ; and if the expenditures of this Gov- 
ernment go on increasing as they have been going on for a 
considerable number of years back, you are responsible, not 
the Administration." After admonishing the Chamber of 
the responsibility in the premises, Senator Johnson presented 
for its examination some striking facts illustrative of the 
growth of public expenditure bearing on the subject before it. 
Dividing our history into decades, he showed that in 1800, 
at the end of the first decade, the expenses of our Army 
was $2,560,000 ; in 1810 it cost $2,294,000 ; in 1820, 
$2,630,000 ; in 1830, $1,767,000 ; in 1840, $7,695,000 ; and 
in 1850, $9,687,000. " You will remark," added the Sena- 
tor, " that, at the end of all these decades, in the year for 
which the calculation is made no war existed, but the sums 
embraced all the expenditures of the War Department. 
In 1857 what do we find them to be ? They reach the 
pretty little sum of $19,159,000 !" Taking the aggregate 
expenditures of the Government, he found that the entire 
expenses for the year 1800 was $7,411,000 ; for 1810, 
$5,592,000 ; for 1820, $10,723,000 ; for 1830, $13,864,000 ; 
for 1840, $26,196,000 ; for 1850, $44,049,000. In 1857 
the expenses ran up to $65,032,000, and the estimates for 
1858 were $74,963,000. He further showed from his sta- 
tistical researches, that in a country where the prejudice of 
the people and the genius of the Government are against a 
standing army ; in a country where the standing army has 
been put down to its lowest possible point, that two-thirds 
of the entire revenue collected from the people of the 
United States have been expended on this army in minia- 
ture, and a navy " not out of its swaddling clothes." 
Keeping in mind the outcry made by those who vote for all 
things and look into but few, and accuse the more patient 
and conscientious legislators with want of "liberality" and 
lack of generous views of public policy, he said : "I know 
it is very easy for Senators, and those who are not Senators, 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 103 

to speak disparagingly of those who count the dollars and 
cents when an appropriation is proposed for this or for 
that purpose ; but we see where our appropriations have 
brought us. They have brought us just where we are — in 
the midst of extravagance, in the midst of profligacy, in 
the midst of corruption, in the midst of improper applica- 
tions of the people's money." He warned the Democratic 
party, especially when they found the opposition willing 
to unite with them on the question, to enter at once upon 
the path of curtailment. If expenses kept on increasing, 
the people would awaken to it, and ascertaining the true 
state of affairs, would sustain the party in favor of arresting 
the extravagant expenditures of the Government. Thus 
awakening the minds of Senators as to the results of a hasty 
and inconsiderate action on the Army bill, Senator Johnson 
supported his opposition to standing armies in a telling 
speech, some extracts from which may be appropriately re- 
produced here. 

" But, sir, I come back to the more immediate question before the 
Senate, and that is as to calling out an additional military force. We 
are told by the friends of the Committee's bill that we do not want 
volunteers. General Washington, in 1794, ordered out fifteen thou- 
sand of the militia to suppress the insurrection of what we called 
the ' Whisky boys ' in Pennsylvania, and General Washington at that 
time acted upon what he understood to be the theory of the Govern- 
ment, as contained in the Constitution. 

" In the enumerated powers of the Constitution, we find the grant 
to Congress of power — 

" ' To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on land and water. 

" ' To raise and support armies ; but ro appropriation of money to 
that use shall be for a longer term than two years.' 

" What is meant there ? Does the Constitution contemplate a 
large standing army ? Congress has power to declare war ; and the 
body on which this power is conferred is authorized to raise and 
maintain an army. This is given as an incideBt as necessary to the 
express grant to carry out the war-making power. Does that imply 
that you can keep fixed on the people a large and expensive stand- 



104 LIFE AXE PUBLIC SERVICES 

ing army ? Proceeding with the Constitution, we find that Congress 
has power — 

" ' To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of 
the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions. To provide 
for organizing, arming, disciplining the militia, and for governing 
such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United 
States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of the 
officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the 
discipline prescribed by Congress.' 

" Do we not see the militia was considered the proper force to sus 
tain the strong arm of the Government ? It never was contemplated 
to have a standing army. But it is said we do not want this descrip- 
tion of force. When we look into the Constitution further, we find 
that the States are prohibited from keeping a standing army. Our 
Federal and State Constitutions were made by our fathers, who were 
familiar with the oppression of the Old "World, who had witnessed 
the encroachments and dangers of standing armies in those old Gov- 
ernments. Hence, we find in all our bills of rights — perhaps not in 
all of them, but certainly in most of them — that standing armies 
are dangerous, and shall not be allowed ; and the Constitution of 
the United States provides for calling the militia to suppress rebel- 
lion or insurrection against the Government. What does this con- 
template ? It contemplates most clearly that the power of this 
Government is to be vested in the citizen soldiery, that they arc 
to be called forth when the Government needs them, and to answer 
the purpose for which the Government calls them into service. I 
am for that description of force ; I am for confiding in and relying 
upon the volunteers of the country. They are the citizen soldiery 
in the proper acceptation of the term. I am for that description of 
soldiers that go when war comes. I am for that description of 
soldiers that come when war goes ; who are not willing to enter the 
Army for a living and depend upon the Army for their support. 
General Washington gives us in his message of 1794 an illustrious 
example in what he said on this subject. He says of the fifteen thou- 
sand men who were called out to suppress and put down the ' Whisky 
boys ' in Pennsylvania : 

" ' It has been a spectacle displaying to the highest advantage the 
value of P.epublican Government — to behold the most and the least 
wealthy of our citizens standing in the same ranks as private sol- 
diers, pre-eminently distinguished by being the Army of the Consti- 
tution.' 

" That was what Washington thought. He would be considered 



OF ANDREW JOHNSOK 1 05 

a demagogue, a peace calculator, a narrow-minded politician, if he 
were to live and speak that language now ; but he thought the true 
army of a Republican Government should be composed of the most 
respectable and the least respectable, of the most wealthy and the 
least wealthy, fighting together when occasion required them to 
tender their services. This was the army that Washington pre- 
sented as an admirable spectacle of a Republican Government ; but 
when we come to modern times and to more distinguished men, we 
find a different doctrine preached. The honorable Chairman of the 
Military Committee — I am sorry he is not in his seat — in speaking 
of the citizen soldiery, or of volunteers, makes use of the following 
language : 

" ' Nothing would be more unjust than to call people from their 
peaceful avocations, and keep them for a long period at frontier posts 
to guard frontier settlements. It would take lower material, too, than 
compose the volunteers who turn out in time of war. Among my 
objections to the employment of volunteers for such service, is the 
very elevated character of the young men who are often induced 
thus to enter the service ; men who are worthy of better employment, 
whose habits are injured, whose train of thought or pursuit of some 
profession is broken in upon by this temporary service, where a 
cheaper man would do as well.' 

" General Washington presented it as a noble spectacle that the 
force which he had ordered out, in obedience to the wants of the 
Government, was composed of the most and the least wealthy and 
respectable. That was the idea that General Washington had, and 
he presents it as an illustrious example in a republican form of 
Government. But hear the Chairman of the Committee : 

" ' If I may be permitted, without an appearance of egotism, to 
refer to my own observation, I would say that when I have traveled 
among the people from whom the volunteers were drawn who went 
to Mexico, I have had this fact more deeply impressed upon me by 
the sad countenance of some father, the tears of some mother, over 
the fate of a promising young man, who fell in performing the duties 
of a private soldier. The material is too high, except when the 
honor of the country demands it.' 

" This carries us back to the condition of and material of which 
armies are composed in European countries. What is the material 
of which they are composed ? There is a broken-down and brain- 
less-headed aristocracy, members of decaying families that have no 
energy by which they can elevate themselves, relying on ancestral 
honors and their connection with the Government. On the other 
hand there is a rabble, in the proper acceptation of the term — a 



106 LIFE AND FUDLIC SERVICES 

miserable lazzaroni, lingering, and hanging, and walloping about 
their cities, that have no employment ; and they are ready and anx- 
ious to enter the service of the Government at any time, for a few 
sixpences to buy their grog and a little clothing to hide their state 
of nudity. Such is the material of which their armies are com- 
posed — the rabble on the one hand, and the broken-down, decaying 
aristocracy on the other. Where does the middle man stand ? 
Where doe3 the industrious bee that makes the honey stand ; from 
whose labor all is drawn ? Where is he ? He is placed between 
the upper and the nether millstone, and is ground to death by the 
office-hunter on the one hand, and the miserable rabble in the shape 
of soldiery on the other. I want no rabble here on the one hand, and 
I want no aristocracy on the other. Let us elevate the masses, and 
make no places in our Government for the rabble, either in your Army 
or the Navy; but let us pursue these great principles of govern- 
ment and philanthropy that elevate the masses on the one hand, and 
dispense with useless offices on the other. Do this, and you preserve 
the great masses of the people, on whom all rests ; without whom 
.your Government would not have an entity." 

lie regarded a standing army as an incubus, a canker, a 
fungus on the body politic. He would rely on the citizen 
soldier, the man that loves his country. In the following 
passage, the Senator indicated Davis' omission of any mention 
of General Scott one of the vindictive weaknesses of the 
Ex-Secretary of War.* 

" In the course of tiie discussion on this bill, there were 
occasionally some strange developments. The eloquent 
Chairman who sustained the bill with so much ability all 
the way through, whenever he came to notice a man who 
had distinguished himself, seemingly had prepared a 
standing eulogy to pronounce on his character. As to 
every thing that pertained to the standing army properly, he 
seemed to be aufait. He was ready at any point to pre- 

* This debate on the Army bill was exceedingly able and spirited, especially 
in the hands of Senators Davis, Hale, Houston, Johnson, Seward, Iverson and 
Toombs. The latter was violently opposed to the regular Army not only as to its 
efficiency, but as to its bearings. On one occasion he declared it was just as 
Impossible for the Ethiop to change his skin, or the leopard his spots, as for a 
regular Army to be the friend of liberty. Senator Seward said, " If there 
ever was a bill well debated, I think it must be this one." 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 107 

sent them and identify them with the Army, and especially 
with West Point. He commenced with Washing-ton, and 
pronounced a eulogy upon him, the great and good ; 'first 
in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his country- 
men.' My heart responds to all that. He spoke of 
Jackson, from my own State ; and if there is liny man that 
ever lived that I venerate, it is the illustrious Andrew Jackson. 
He spoke of Colonel Johnson, who has command of your 
forces now away in the region of Utah, and he pronounced 
a eulogy upon him ; of General Taylor, distinguished 
and brave (and I have not aught to say against him), and 
he pronounced a eulogy upon him — his courage, his valor, 
his chivalry ; and last, though not least, of my distinguished 
friend from Texas [Houston], on whom he pronounced a 
eulogy, and I say Amen to all of it. 

" I will not undertake to add any thing to what he said 
on that occasion, but in this brilliant galaxy of military 
chieftains, men who have been in the thickest and hottest 
of the battle ; men, over whose gallant efforts your banner 
has triumphantly waved ; upon whose standard the eagle 
of liberty has again and again perched ; did it not occur 
to you that there was another man who was somewhat 
distinguished ? I understand that that man, too, con- 
curs with the Secretary of War in asking for regiments ; 
not to fill up the rank and file with cheap men, but to have 
regiments, not companies. Who is that man ? It occurred 
to me as being somewhat strange that nothing was said of 
him. I am no admirer of the individual to whom I allude, 
in a political point of view, but his military reputation is a 
part of the history of this country, and his military renown 
is only bounded by the limits of the civilized world. Who 
is he ? When you come to look at him exclusively in a 
military point of view, he stands up in this great cluster of 
military chiefs like some projecting cliff from a lofty moun- 
tain. Did we never hear of Winfield Scott ? Has he no 



1 0S LIFE A ¥D PUBLIC SER VICES 

place in the military annals of our country ? Has he fought 
no battles? Has lie shed no blood? Has he not shown 
himself to be illustrious us a soldier as well as a tactician ? 
Why was he omitted? Why was he excluded from the 
category of great men ? Why was there an omission to 
pronounce a eulogy upon him? I know there is nothing 
I could say that would add one gem to the brilliant chaplet 
that encircles his illustrious brow, and therefore I will not 
undertake to say any thing in reference to that distinguished 
man. As a military chieftain, he belongs to the nation ; his 
success on the battle-field, to the history of the world.* 

Davis having pointed to Washington and Jackson, with 
the others alluded to, as examples of purity in military 
offices, General Houston replied : " Why, sir, Washington 
began his military career as a militia officer under Brad- 
dock, and as soon as Braddock's campaign was done, he 
retired to the scenes of private life. He did not seek the 
Army as an avocation. When the Revolution began, destiny 

called him to the head of our forces He retired from 

office whenever the necessities of his country permitted him 
to do so. Jackson, too, was called from private life to mili- 
tary service ; and I venture to say he never mustered with 
a company in his life before he went into actual service. 

Jackson was called into the field at forty years of age, 

and when the emergency was over he retired again to pri- 

* The deadly enmity of Davis to General Scott is indicated by the latter when 
speaking of the movement in 1852 to give him a brevet Lieutenant-Generalship. 
" Mr. Jefferson Davis, soon in the Cabinet, allowed of no intermission in bis 
hostility. The rank could not be withheld : but he next resolved that it 
should cany no additional compensation, however clearly embraced. Yet he 
permitted the question of compensation to go to the Attorney-General, but. 
coupled the reference with a volunteer argument of fourteen pages, against 
the claim — he, himself being profoundly ignorant of law — for the benefit of 
the law officer of the Government. It is true he informed me that he had 
made the reference, but I was purely indebted to accident for my knowledge 
of his legal argument." lie calls Davis his " deadly enemy," and states that he 
(Scott; was not out of bis hands until the " declaratory resolution " was em- 
bodied in the military appropriation bill ; otherwise, Davis would have "cer- 
tainly caused it to be vetoed." (See Scott's Autobiography, Vol. u.) 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 109 

vate life. lie never sought office. He even resigned a 
seat in this august body, that he might give place to a man, 
as he supposed, of more experienced and enlightened views, 
General Smith. He afterward resigned the office of Major- 
General in the Army, or intimated his disposition not to 
serve longer. He resigned the Governorship and Captain- 
Generalship of Cuba and Florida, after he had accomplished 
the purpose of his Government there. He sought private 
life ; or, if he occupied public station, it was for the purpose 
of being useful to the country, and not to be an incubus 
upon it."* 

Senator Hunter of Virginia had congratulated the Senate 
on the economical views of Senator Johnson, but accused 
him of not practicing what he preached, inasmuch as he 
proposed to raise more men than the Davis' bill which he 
opposed. Johnson retorted by showing that he meant to 
raise men to meet a supposed emergency, while the other 
bill comprehended a permanent increase. Senator Simmons 
of Rhode Island then proposed to Johnson to modify his 
bill to the raising of three regiments, the amount advocated 
by the Senator from Virginia, instead of four thousand men ; 
to which the Senator from Tennessee said he would accede 
if Hunter would vote for it. The latter, thus cornered, 
said : 

" Why should the Senator suppose that I will vote for it, 
when I have just told him that I believe the volunteer 
troops are more expensive than the regulars." 

To which Johnson replied : " I am aware that the gentle- 
man told me so ; but I had supposed that the facts to the 
contrary would have satisfied him." 

In a further parly Hunter declined to go into the subject, 
referring to Senator Iverson of Georgia, who, he said, was 
prepared on it, and would satisfy the Senate. 

After his usual fashion, Iverson made an excited and ex 

* Congressional Globe, First Session, Thirty-fifth Congress. 



110 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

citing display, in the course of which he reflected severely on 
the military character of Tennessee, and manifested more 
ill-feeling than argument, more personality than judgment. 
Johnson replied, and the passage at arms became of such a 
character as to arouse the anxious interest of the Chamber. 
The Senator from Tennessee, however, not only over- 
whelmed the irate and unreasoning Georgian with ridicule, 
but drew from him an apology to the State of Tennessee. 
After the debate had progressed with considerable warmth 
and recrimination on both sides, Senator Iverson made an 
explanation to substantiate his position on the bill, and 
here I will give the words of the official report : 

" Mr. Johnson of Tennessee. — The Senator's explana- 
tions show that he has not made himself familiar with the 
provisions of my substitute. It provides expressly that the 
volunteers shall be received into the service of the United 
States during the pending difficulties of the Mormons, and 
in no event shall they be continued in service longer than 
two years. 

" Mr. Iverson. — I will read the amendment of the Sen- 
ator, if he will allow me: 

" ' To serve for twelve months, unless they be sooner discharged, 
after they shall have arrived at the place of rendezvous, or been 
mustered into the service of the United States.' 

" Mr. Johnson.— What bill is that ? 

" Mr. Iverson. — Yours. 

" Mr Johnson. — I reckon not. 

" Mr. Iverson. — Here it is. 

" Mr. Johnson. — Read it. 

'• Mr. Iverson.—' Substitute to be proposed by Mr. 
Wilson,' and that is the same thing' !" 

The official record does not chronicle the laughter with 
which the Georgian's discovery was greeted, nor the over- 
whelming discomposure of that gentleman in his ridiculous 
position ; but the scene was too suggestive to be overlooked 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 1 1 ] 

by the reporters and editors of the journals of the day. 
The helplessness of Senator Iverson's position was rendered 
more ludicrous by the vigor with which Senator Johnson 
followed up the point. 

" Ah !" said lie, " that is another matter. So the Senate 
will discover that the Senator from Georgia has made a 
speech without a subject. He has missed the subject en- 
tirely. He shows that his argument was made upon another 

amendment What, then, becomes of the Senator's 

argument ? What becomes of all the feeling he manifested ? 
The feeling manifested was as unnecessary as the argument 
was absurd." 

A dashing and bright episode in this debate was John- 
son's defense of his State. It exhibits the racy readiness 
with which the self-educated Senator, when aroused, could 
handle an antagonist in debate, without preparation ; draw- 
ing promptly upon the various and plentiful resources of a 
laboriously well-stored mind, guided by the passions, genius 
and instincts of native intellect. 

" But, sir, the Senator has referred to my State. I ask 
the Senate, I ask the people of this nation, if it is any part 
of Tennessee's history that her people have been ever 
wanting in prowess or courage ? She needs no vindication 
from me ; it exists in her own history. I could recite many 
of her military deeds that would be ample, if her reputation 
was not beyond the assaults of the Senator. I could begin 
with the battle of King's Mountain, which was fought before 
Tennessee was a State. It was then a portion of the Territory 
of North Carolina, but the people went from the eastern coun- 
ties of Tennessee, aud there, amidst the din and the dust 
and the heat of battle, they showed themselves to be brave 
men. Is it necessary to allude to the Seviers, the Shelbys, 
the Hardings, and the long list of those gallant patriots who 
participated in that battle ? When you examine the his- 
tory of the country carefully, you will find that it was that 



112 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

battle which turned the tide of the Kevolution. The country- 
had been laid waste, disaster had attended our arms ; but 
from the battle of King's Mountain, down to the surrender 
of Cornwallis, our troops triumphed everywhere. 

"How was it in the War of 1812? Go to the cold 
region of the north, and do you not find Tennessee soldiers, 
in connection with their compatriots in arms, traversing the 
frozen ground, and pouring out their blood freely in defense 
of the northern frontier ? Go to your southern campaigns, 
in an inclement climate, beneath a burning sun, where 
disease and death cut them down, and were not Tennessee's 
sons there ? Go through your Indian campaigns, and were 
they not there ? Go through the battles of Talladega, 
Emuckfau, or Horse-shoe and Hickory-ground, and where 
ever it was necessary to make a display of bravery and 
gallantry, were they not there ? I could hardly undertake 
to name her srallant sons who have distinguished themselves 
in your military service, because they are so numerous that 
their names do not now occur to me. Where is your 
Carroll ? Where is your Houston that was wounded in 
the battle of Horse-shoe ? I can claim him as a Ten- 
nessean. How was it in the Mexican war ? Go to 
Monterey ; go to any point where there was fighting to be 
done, and were not Tennesseans there ? Where was your 
Campbell? Where was your Anderson? Were they 
not at Monterey, leading on their gallant fellows in the 
thickest and the hottest of the fi^ht ? On what occasion 
is it that the sons of Tennessee have faltered ? Was it at 
the battle of New Orleans ? There were Jackson and 
Carroll, and a long list of others. On the 23d of Decem- 
ber, 1814, they were gallantly engaged in the contest of 
the enemy in the swamps and the lagoons ; and on the 
memorable Sth of January, 1815, the sons of Tennessee, in 
connection with those of Kentucky and other States, dis- 
tinguished themselves. When the embattled host was 



OF AFDRE W JOHNS OK 1 1 3 

advancing', when the rockets were going up, indicating the 
commencement of battle, Tennessee's gallant leader, her 
own noble and glorious Jackson, who stands in this great 
forest of men the admiration of the American people — 
where was he ? In the thickest and hottest of the battle 
his stern voice could be heard, rising above the roar of 
artillery, urging his men on to the encounter." 

Senator Iverson, with that promptness of feeling which, 
in excitable natures, is almost as ready to admit an error 
as to plunge into one, took occasion to withdraw his remarks, 
or, as he himself afterward said, lie disclaimed having made 
any imputation conveyed, and accorded " to the people of 
Tennessee as much bravery and personal courage as any 
people in the United States." 

The Army bill, as finally adopted* completely checked 
the desire to increase the standing armies. It provided 
for the raising of two regiments for eighteen months, unless 
sooner discharged by the President. 

In this same session the debate on the " Tennessee resolu- 
tions" between the Senators from that State attracted wide- 
spread attention, not only from the nature of the resolutions, 
which referred to the great topic of the day, but from the 
character of the men drawn into conflict on them and the 
method by which they were discussed. The resolutions arc 
as follow : 

" Whereas, the Act of 1820, commonly called the ' Missouri Com- 
promise Act,' was inconsistent witli the principles declared and laid 
"down in the Act of 1850, better known as the Compromise Act of 
that year; and, whereas, the Missouri Compromise Act wa3 a 
palpable wrong done to the people of the slaveholding States, and 
3hould have been repealed; and, whereas, the principle of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill meet our unqualified approbation, and should bave 
received the cordial support of our Senators and Representatives in 
Congress; whereas, one of these Senators, Hon. John Bell, in a 
speech delivered against the Kansas-Nebraska bill, May 25, 1854, 
said : ' A noble, generous and high-minded Senator from the South, 

* Approved April 7, 1S5S. 

8- 



114 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

■within the last few days before the final vote "was taken on the bill, 
appealed to me in a manner which I cannot narrate, and which af- 
fected me most deeply. The recollection of it affects and influences 
my feelings now, and ever since I told the honorable Senator that 
there was one feature in the bill which made it impossible that I 
should vote for it, if I waived all other objections. I said to others 
who had made appeals to me on the subject, that while it would 
afford me great pleasure to be sustained by my constituents, yet if I 
was not, I would resign my seat here the moment I find my course 
upon this subject was not acceptable to them. As for my standing 
as a public man, and whatever prospect a public man of long ser- 
vice in the councils of the country might be supposed to have, I 
would resign them all with pleasure. I told that gentleman, that 
if upon thi3 or any other great question affecting the interests of the 
South, I should find my views conflicting materially with what 
should appear to be the settled sentiment of that section, I should 
fael it my imperative duty to retire. I declare here to-day that if 
my countrymen of Tennessee shall declare against my course on this 
subject, and that shall be ascertained to be a reasonable certainty, 
I will not be seen in the Senate a day afterward.' Therefore, 

" Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, 
That we fully concur with the Hon. John Bell as to the duty of a 
Senator, when the voice of his constituency has decided against him 
on a question materially affecting their interest. 

" Be it farther resolved, That in our opinion the voice of Mr. Bell's 
countrymen of Tennessee, in the recent elections, has declared against 
his course on the Kansas-Nebraska bill, a question of vital interest 
to the South. 

" Be it farther resolved, That our Senators in the Congress of the 
United States are hereby instructed, and our Representatives are re- 
quested to vote for the admission of Kansas as an independent 
State, under what i3 termed the Lecompton Constitution, transmitted 
to the Sjnate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, 
by President Buchanan, in his message to them, dated the 2d of 
February, 1858. 

" Be it further resolved, That the Governor of this State forward 
a certified copy of these resolutions to our Senators and Representa- 
tives in the Congress of the United States. 
" Adopted February 10, 1858. 

"DANIEL S. DONELSON, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

« JOHN C. BURCH, 

Speaker of the Senate V 



OF ANDREW JOHNS ON 1 1 5 

On presenting these resolutions, Senator Bell reviewed 
them at length with his accustomed piquancy, refused to be 
instructed, and justified his opposition to them. Senator 
Johnson, regretting the occasion which forced him to say a 
few words in vindication of his State, as it was " a very 
delicate thing to be compelled to make an issue with a col- 
league," in the Senate or elsewhere, could not remain silent 
when an explanation of some matters alluded to by his 
colleague was necessary as a matter of justice. He de- 
fended the instructions of his State, and a lengthy debate 
ensued, in the course of which the latter charged the former 
with bidding higher for the Presidency than any man in the 
South, and regarded it as the most unfortunate thing that 
ever befell Senators that they became candidates for the 
Presidency. " Whenever," he said ; " a Senator fixes his 
eyes upon the Presidential Mansion as the acme of his am- 
bition, nineteen times out of twenty lie falls by the way- 
side. It has been so with the most distinguished men that 
have ever gone before us, who have participated in the most 
trying scenes and struggles of the couutry — bidding for 
Northern and Southern votes." 

Mr. Bell was distinguished at times for a hastiness of 
expression, less indicative of his nature than the habits of 
self-esteem which successful experience too often engenders ; 
and in this debate, the remark uttered by him that he wa3 
not " the competitor in any respect or any way " of his col- 
league, inspired the proud sensibility of the latter to se- 
verely rebuke the expression, and vindicate any reflection, 
if such were conveyed in the remark. After stating that 
Mr. Bell had not stood up to the political contests in Ten- 
nessee, he said : " I have had competitors again and again, 
and many of them not inferior in ability and reputation 
even to the honorable Senator's conception of himself. I 
will not refer to the issues that took place between these 
competitors and myself. I leave that for the history of tho 



1 1 6 LIFE AND PUBLIC SER VICES 

country to tell. I have had competitors that were worthy 
of nry steel, and they have met their fate like honorable 
men, and recognized me as such. A gentleman and well- 
bred man Avill respect me ; all others I will make do it. 

" ' Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, 
That he is grown so great.' 

" Is lie beyond the reach of popular sentiment ? In rather 
a taunting and sneering manner he says he is not my com- 
petitor in any sense. If you never have been my competitor 
your equals have ; and in the conclusion of their contest 
they have adjusted their robes and prepared themselves 
for their fate, and I repeat again, fell like honorable 
men. I stand here to-day not as the competitor of any 
Senator ! I know my rights, and I intend to learn the pro- 
prieties of the Senate ; and in compliance with those pro- 
prieties, my rights and the right of the State I have the 
honor in part to represent, shall be maintained (to use terms 
very familiar with us) at all hazards and to the last ex- 
tremity I must say, in conclusion of these desultory 

remarks, that I have been forced before the Senate more 
and oftener than I intended to have been under any reason- 
able circumstances, for the first twelve months or two years 
of my service here. My intention was to come here ami 
pass through that probation which older and more expe- 
rienced men and Senators more talented than myself should 
assign and prescribe for me. I have, however, been forced 
thus often before the Senate. It has been contrary to my 
inclination ; but I-believe that duty to myself, duty to my 
State, duty to principle, required me to do so ; and acting 
under this impression, I have ventured to trespass on the, 
patience and time of the Senate. I have come here to 
vote and act, and shall try to do so. I thank the Senate 
for the attention they have paid me." 

A large portion of the remarks on both sides were in ex- 



OF AXDRE W JOHXSOtf. 117 

planation of Tennessee affairs ; Senator Johnson holding 
that the Legislature of that State manifested no disrespect 
in the resolutions, and only exercised the privilege that had 
been exercised by most of the States. The discussion ex- 
tended through a large portion of the 23d and 24th of Feb- 
ruary, and unpleasant results were anticipated, but on the 
25th both gentlemen made personal explanations, each 
evincing a spirit becoming the Senatorial character. 



CHAPTER VII. 



RETRENCHMENT IN GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES. 



Resolution to Reduce the Department Expenses — A Presidential Test to 
the Presidential Party — Leaving the Old Senate Chamber — Vice-President 
Breckinridge's Address, its Lessons — Retrenchment Inaugurates the New 
Senate Chamber — Senator Shields Sustains it — Johnson's Proposi- 
tion — The Finance Committee Objects — Means by which Measures are 
Postponed — Fessenden, Mason, Davis — Compliment from Mason — Growth 
of Population and Government Expenses — Fifty Million Dollars Proposed 
as the Maximum for Annual Expenses of Government — The Pacific Rail- 
road — Arguments For and Against it — Johnson believes it Unconstitu- 
tioual — We might as well Build a Road from Boston to Little Rock, as to 
the Pacific — The Railroad as a Defeuse for California — Proposes to have 
the People Vote on it — Senator Gwin's Millstone — Was the Pacific Rail- 
road a Party Doctrine — Before his Election, Mr. Buchanan Opposes it on 
the Atlantic Side and Favors it Secretly on the Pacific — Johnson does not 
believe Presidential Conventions should periodically Dictate Terms to 
Democrats — The States ought to Nominate Candidates — Passage on 
Presidential Aspirations between Johnson and Davis — The Former riot 
in the way of the Latter for that Office — Would rather be an Honest Man 
— Senator David C. Broderick — Supports the Bill — A Self-made Man — 
The Gold Connection between California and the Atlantic States — Johnson 
to Broderick — Broderick's Death — Hunted Down by the Buchanan Party 
— Sketch of his Career — Speech in Reply to Hammond — Addresses on 
his Death — Fine Tribute from Seward. 



It will be seen that with the rigid simplicity of his char- 
acter, Mr. Johnson always espoused the cause which seemed 
to him to most fully express, explain or illustrate the 
wants, protests or purposes of the masses. This course 
was to him not only a duty, but a necessity. The man was 
as prominent as the legislator, and feeling always superior 

to politics. He was watchful, active, conscientious. He 
ni8) 







I .,"/•■' I 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOUXSOX. 119 

was a workingrnan iu the hall of legislation. He did 
not seek the honor of representation for honor alone. 
"While he felt proud of his position, it is probably but true 
of him that his chief pride was in the exact ratio of the 
power it extended to him of doing good, or striving to do 
good. I have already indicated his views touching economy 
in Government expenditure. In justice to Mr. Johnson, 
the subject needs a somewhat more extended illustration. 
The President's Annual Message at the Second Session of 
the Thirty-fifth Congress, having giveu Senator Johnson a 
favorable opportunity to bring the subject of retrenchment 
plainly and fully before the Senate, he, on the 4th of Jan- 
uary, 1859, submitted the following resolution, and asked 
for its immediate consideration : 

" Resolved, That so inuch of the President's second Annual Mes- 
sage as relates to the expenditures of the Government of the United 
States, which is in the following words, to wit : ' I invite Congress 
to institute a rigid scrutiny to ascertain whether the expen-ies in all 
the Departments cannot be still further reduced, and I promise them 
all the aid in my power in pursuing the investigation,' be referred to 
the Committee on Finance ; and that said Committee are hereby 
instructed, after first conferring with and obtaining all aid and in- 
formation from the President and Heads of Departments, as indicated 
in the President's Message, to report a bill, reforming as far as pos- 
sible, all abuses in the application of the appropriations made by 
Congress for the support of the various Departments, and which 
will reduce the expenditures to an honest, rigid and economical 
administration of the Government." 

Hoping that President Buchanan had made the sugges- 
tion in good faith, Senator Johnson made this hope a fulcrum 
on which to place a lever and raise the Administration Sena- 
tors to a discussion of the subject. If the President was 
not in earnest, he desired to put him to the test. The 
latter had said he was willing to give every aid toward an 
investigation and in furtherance of a reduction. It was the 
very thing to captivate Johnson's heart ; and while he used 
the Presidential recommendation to incite the Presidential 



120 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

party, lie also adjured the other side of the Senate to ac- 
quiesce in his resolution testing the sincerity of the Execu- 
tive. He desired to hold all parties to their professions, 
feeling confident that every vote, act 01* speech of his own 
in Congress as elsewhere had corresponded with his pro- 
fession. 

Senator Johnson submitted this resolution on the morn- 
ing when the Senate, having bade farewell to the old 
Chamber, around which so many hallowed memories were 
gathered, took possession of the new one. The occasion 
was solemn, full of historic references to the past, and ad- 
monition as to the future. John C. Breckinridge, then Vice- 
President, delivered an address, some portions of which 
read with a terrible retributive significance by the light 
which his treason throws over the page recording them. 
The conclusion of this address sufficiently indicates both the 
high tone in which it was conceived, and the self-made 
weight of moral and patriotic obloquy the speaker should now 
feel in having broken the devout hope expressed by him, as 
embracing the duties of a true and upright American Senator. 

" And now. Senators,"' said the Vice-President, " we leave 
this memorable Chamber, bearing with us, unimpaired, the 
Constitution we received from our forefathers. Let us 
cherish it with grateful acknowledgments to the Divine 
Power who controls the destinies of empires, and whose 
goodness we adore. The structures reared by men yield to 
the corroding tooth of Time. These marble walls must moul- 
der into ruin : but the principles of constitutional liberty, 
guarded by wisdom and virtue, unlike material elements, do 
not decay. Let us devoutly trust that another Senate, in 
another age, shall bear to a new and larger Chamber, this 
Constitution, vigorous and inviolate, and that the last gene- 
ration of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the 
Representatives of American States still united, prosperous 
and free." 



OF ANDREW JOHFSON. 121 

This passage furnishes its own commentary. Senator 
Johnson's retrenchment resolution derived from the occasion 
a value in addition to its intrinsic worth ; nor did its appro- 
priateness to the occasion escape the sharp comprehension 
of Senator Shields. " I think," said he, " we are indebted to 
the honorable Senator from Tennessee, for introducing 
the necessary subject as an inauguration of the Chamber. 
The Senate coulcl not be better occupied on the first morning 
of the first day of its session in this Chamber, in my humble 
judgment, than in discussing the subject of retrenchment." 
Shields doubted whether much could be accomplished during 
the short session, but " the very discussion of the subject, 
the very introduction of it, the exhibition of a general 
feeling anions; Northern and Southern men in favor of re- 
trenchment," on the first day of the session in the new 
Chamber, would, he thought, be a pleasant augury for the 
country. 

Senator Johnson had been waiting a longtime for a favor- 
able opportunity to commence the work of retrenchment. 
He had also made up his mind that such a labor must at 
least have the countenance of the head of the Government. 
A Senator may arise in the upper Chamber ; a few Repre- 
sentatives may arise in the House ; they may talk about, 
retrenchment, introduce resolutions, and nothing result there- 
from. The Executive now offered to facilitate the investi- 
■ gations upon which retrenchment might be based, and 
Johnson was eager to take him at his word. It was pro- 
posed to send his resolution to the Finance Committee, and 
quite a debate ensued, the Chairman of that Committee pro- 
posing otherwise,- and various Senators offering various 
suggestions. A select committee was suggested, with com- 
plimentary allusions to Senator Johnson as its chairman ; 
but the latter thought that if the Finance Committee could 
not grasp the question during the session, no select com- 
mittee could. He was especially anxious to have the 



122 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

question sounded by the ability and experience of the Fi- 
nance Committee, and in the course of his advocacy referred 
to the means, past and present, by which useful measures 
were and are postponed. " Mr. President," said he, address- 
ing Senator Fitzpatrick of Alabama, who occupied the chair; 
'• vou have been a member of this body a long time. I seo 
many faces here with whom I served in the House of Repre- 
sentatives ; and from the time I took my seat there up to the 
present moment, whenever this subject was mooted, the cry 
has been, ' this is not the time.' There was always something 
in the way. An appropriation was needed for this, or an 
appropriation was needed for that, or the session was too 
short ; it was not time to commence this work. When will 
the time come ? When can we commence this work ? In 
the estimation of some it will never come, and, even among 
the friends of retrenchment and reform, when you present a 
proposition, it is not exactly in the right shape ; its refer- 
ence is not to the right committee, or the session is too 
short for any thing to be clone. If we are in earnest in this 
matter, if (following the intimations of the honorable Senator 
from Maine, Mr. Fessenden*) we are sincere, let us give the 
public some evidence of our sincerity. Let us not talk 
about expenditure ; let us not talk about extravagance ; but 
let us reduce our professions, and our talk, and our theories 
to practice." 

The cry of reform and retrenchment is too often made on 
insufficient grounds and without any definite purpose. N"o 
one acquainted witli Mr. Johnson's career could accuse him 
of cither want of knowledge, such as is gained by careful 
research, or want of purpose. As those disposed to sneer 
at his chief measures of amelioration did not deny him the 
ability to illustrate fitly and fully an object the usefulness 

* Since Secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln, succeeding Hon. 
S. P. Chase, when the latter was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 123 

of which they did not controvert, Mason of Virginia had 
" great reluctance to interfere with the plan of the Senator 
from Tennessee," and respectfully asked him to modify his 
resolution. Davis of Mississippi, while showing where 
abuses existed, thought the resolution an arraignment 
without proof, but would vote for it if modified, and even 
Tycoon of Georgia, desiring a select committee so that the 
subject might have the zeal and ability of the mover of the 
resolution, as chairman, paid him a marked compliment. 
" He," said Iverson, " as a matter of courtesy and parliamen- 
tary propriety, will be chairman of the select committee ; 
and I am sincere, when I say that there is no man in this 
body or probably in either House, who is so fit and appro- 
priate to probe this wound of the public as the Senator 
from Tennessee ; and I trust that on this account the amend- 
ment will be adopted, and that we shall have the benefit of 
his experience and the interest he takes in the question." 

Senator Johnson was not so unreasonable as to imagine 
that the expenses of the Government should not keep pace 
with our natural and national progress. As the business of the 
Republic and the Republic itself increases and becomes more 
extensive in all that pertains to a government, we must expect 
the expenditures to correspondingly increase. But the sta- 
tistics consulted by Senator Johnson advised him that while 
the population had increased seven-fold from 1790 to the time 
at which he spoke, the expenditures had increased thirty-five 
fold. In 1790 the population of the United States was a 
fraction less than 4,000,000; and the expenditures in 1791 
were $2,000,000. In 1858 the population was 28,000,000, 
and the expenditures of the Government amounted to about 
$75,000,000. At least, $75,000,000 was the estimate ; but 
the actual expenditures reached, as we are told, $81,000,000, 
and the amount appropriated at the previous Congress was 
$83,000,000. Taking the estimate, however, as Senator 
Johnson did, the facts in the case forced upon him the con- 



124 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

viction that the sooner the work of retrenchment was com- 
menced the better. 

The resolution attracted much attention, was debated 
with considerable spirit and elicited a very general ex- 
pression of acquiescence on the part of Senators. In addi- 
tion to the means alluded to of making it practical, it was 
proposed to refer it to a committee composed of the chair- 
men of the seven principal committees of the Senate ; but 
Senator Doug-las having shown that such a plan would be 
unfair, in having the committee all of one side in politics, it 
was withdrawn. It was ordered to a select committee, but 
Senator Johnson positively declining the chairmanship, 
several Senators who voted in the hope that ho would 
accept the position moved a reconsideration and it fell 
through. After urging the adoption of this searching reso- 
lution from the time of its introduction to the 12th of Febru- 
ary, 1857, he again proposed it, preceded by an additional 
one, which reads : 

" Resolved, That the President of the United States be and he is 
hereby requested to cause the Heads of the various Executive De- 
partments to submit estimates of the expenditures for the Govern- 
ment to the Thirty-sixth Congress, upon a basis not exceeding 
$30,000,000 per annum, exclusive of the public debt and the in- 
terest thereon." 

In advocating this proposition, which was designed to be 
practical, and to immediately begin the work of retrench- 
ment, Senator Johnson said : " I am aware, as was remarked 
by the Senator from Illinois, that the principal expenditures 
of all Governments have been in the Army and Navy. They 
are the main arteries by which all Governments are bled to 
death ; but there are extravagances and abuses which, as I 
think, exist in other Departments beside the Army and Navy, 
and these resolutions are intended to embrace all, little and 
big ; but I do not want to begin with wafers and quills and 
pens. Let us begin with the leading expenditures of the 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 125 

Government — the principal Departments. Let the work 
commence there, and these little incidental retrenchments 
will follow as a matter of course." 

After some vicissitudes which waylaid it on what seemed 
one or two auspicious occasions, its indefatigable mover suc- 
ceeded, on the last day of the session, in having the last prop- 
osition passed, a significant but, at the same time, useless 
admonition to the Administration. 

We have already seen the determined staud taken by 
Johnson, when in the House of Representatives, against 
internal improvements of a local nature and the indis- 
criminate expenditure of the public money. He continued 
to hold the same views and to enunciate them with all the 
force which conviction, strengthened by fourteen years' ad- 
ditional experience, made him the master of. 

Senator Johnson's caution in regard to expenditure of 
public money, for improvements he regarded of a local na- 
ture, compelled him to review most carefully all that might 
be said in favor of or against a Pacific Railroad. It was 
not his intention to have addressed the Senate on the subject, 
or but briefly, if at all ; but the question assumed such an 
importance in the various amendments proposed by Senators 
Davis, Wilson, Bell, Doolittle and others, as well as the scope 
to which the project extended during its debate, that Sen- 
ator Johnson felt it somewhat incumbent on him to state 
why he would vote against the measure. 

Notwithstanding there were some positions in the original 
bill assumed by the party to which he belonged, yet the 
fact of their having been so adopted did not induce him to 
accept them, when, to his own mind, they were untenable 
and unauthorized. As a strict constructionist, he could 
regard the measure in no other light than as clearly uncon- 
stitutional. With regard to works of internal improvement 
to be constructed by the Federal Government, he admitted 
that it was difficult to determine where the power of the 



126 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

latter commenced or ended ; or, in other words, what 
particular character of improvement was national or what 
local. It was his settled conviction, however, that in all 
matters of donbt as to the constitutional power of Con- 
gress in such matters, Congress should desist from the 
exercise of a doubtful power. He agreed with Jefferson, 
who laid it down as a fundamental rule in all doubtful 
questions, to pursue principle, as " in the pursuit of a cor- 
rect principle you can never reach a wrong conclusion." 
Looking at the question before the Senate in its best 
aspect, he saw that a doubt as to the power of Congress 
existed, in which case he could but stand upon Jefferson's 
rule and principle, to " call upon the source of all power 
before you exercise a doubtful authority." 

The power to construct the road was placed by the 
friends of the measure on that provision of the Constitution 
which says that Congress shall have power to declare war. 
But it did not follow, in his mind, that, because Congress 
has the power, it has the right to declare war unless it is 
necessary and proper. The fact that we have the power 
does not imply that we must improperly exercise it. He 
went on further to show that this war-making power was 
accompanied by the power to raise armies ; but that also 
all appropriations for their maintenance cannot constitu- 
tionally exist more than two years. And why ? " Because 
it was looked upon as a dangerous power. In the event of 
a declaration of war, the Constitution of the country makes 
the President of the United States Commander of the Army 
and the Navy ; in other words, it places the sword in the 
Executive hand, but it gives Congress the power to control 
appropriations. The question naturally arose, was it cither 
necessary or proper to declare war ? He did not see that 
it was either the one or the other. Hence, as it was not 
necessary to exercise the war power, " it likewise was not 
necessary and proper to construct the Pacific Railroad as 



OF ANDREW JOHNS ON. 1 o 7 

an incident to carry into effect the war power when it was 
not necessary to exercise it." He showed that the Presi- 
dent, in his Annual Message, disclaimed all power on the 
part of the Government to make the road unless it was 
under the war power ; but said that there were " important 
collateral considerations urging us to undertake the work." 
Not believing in the existence of any emergency, Senator 
Johnson did not feel authorized to expend " two, six or 
eight hundred millions" for the road. He could not see, 
because the road would be a convenience in the event of a 
war for carrying troops and munitions, that we had the 
power to construct it, or, as the bill did, appropriate land 
and money for such a purpose and then give it to the Ter- 
ritories through which the road may pass when they become 
States. " If we can do it," lie said, " why may we not begin 
at Maine, on our extreme northeastern boundary, and con- 
struct a line of railroad to Boston, and from Boston to New 
York, and from New York to Philadelphia, and from Phila- 
delphia to Baltimore, and from Baltimore to Washington, 
and from Washington to Richmond, and from Richmond to 
Lynchburg, and from Lynchburg to Knoxville, and from 
Knoxville to Chattanooga, and from Chattanooga to Mem- 
phis, and thence to Little Rock in Arkansas, a direct con- 
nection over a line stretching through the country." Such 
a line, he argued, would be just as much a war measure, 
and just as necessary and proper, as an exercise of the war 
power, as to construct a road to the Pacific. " If," said he, 
in further illustration of this point, " if we have the power 
in the one case to construct a road from Little Rock to any 
place on the western boundary of Missouri, or any other 
point to the Pacific Ocean, and pay out money and public 
lands for it, is it not just as constitutional, is it not just as 
necessary and proper for the Government to come forward 
and relieve those States which are now groaning under the 
heavy debts that they have contracted for the construction 



1 2 S LIFE AND r UBLIC SER VICES 

of the roads I have mentioned ? Can it not just as well 
do that as continue the roads to the Pacific and surrender 
the lino to the States through which it may be con- 
structed ? If we can make the road and surrender it in 
tlic one case, we can appropriate for one that is already 
constructed in the other." 

Passing to another aigument made in favor of the meas- 
ure, to wit, the defense of California and the danger which 
menaced the Pacific coast, Senator Johnson did not see 
that the road would mitigate the latter or strengthen the 
former. After the road was constructed, California, without 
forts, harbors, arsenals and dockyards, would be as open 
to attack from British or French vessels as ever. On the 
other hand, if we let the road alone and construct forts 
and arsenals on the Pacific, as we have done on the At- 
lantic, the people would be as competent to defend them- 
selves as we are. " By the time we construct this road, 
which will not be less than twenty-five years, or perhaps a 
much greater number of years, they will be more competent 
to defend themselves against any foreign aggressions than 
we were when we succeeded in achieving the independence 
that we now enjoy." If the Pacific needed forts, coming 
within the constitutional provisions, he would give them ; 
but lie could not see any right to construct the road, and 
before entering upon such an exercise of power, he was in 
favor of submitting the measure to the people. 

"It seems," he said, "from the multifarious views taken of the 
constitutional power to pass this measure by its friends, that it has 
no specific or definite location. It is a kind of migratory power that 
is wandering about in the Constitution, seeking some place to make 
a location. Then I come back to the text that I started with ; plac- 
ing it upon the best ground possible, it is a doubtful question; and 
being a doubtful question, I, as a Democrat favoring a strict con- 
struction of the Constitution, say Congress should desist from the 
exercise of the power ; and before the power is exercised, if this Gov- 
ernment is to be preserved a free government, let us go to the States 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS OX. 1 2 9 

that made the Constitution, and ask them for an enlargement of our 
authority, or to definitely and distinctly define what power Congress 
shall exercise in reference to works of internal improvement."* 

During the debate, one of the California Senators [Mr. 
Gwin], to add plausibility to the scheme, and as Johnson 
said, " to hang it as a millstone around the neck of the Dem- 
ocratic party,'' stated that the Cincinnati National Conven- 
tion in 1856 passed a resolution, as a part of the Democratic 
platform, favoring the construction of the Pacific Railroad. 
This was not correct and did not escape Senator Johnson. 
He showed that it was not accepted as a party measure, was 
not admitted into the platform, but recommended after the 
platform had been adopted and the candidate for the Presi- 
dency nominated. As a Democrat, he was particular in 
drawing a line between the faith of the party and an outside 
suggestion to it.f In his section of the country, during the 
Presidential canvass, it was repudiated and condemned by 
all as not being part of the Democratic faith. Neither in 
that region was Mr. Buchanan understood as entertaining 
opinions favorable to the project, or admitting its constitu- 
tionality ; and it was with great surprise that these people 
received news from California after the election that Mr. 
Buchanan had written a letter to that State committing 
himself to the railroad. It was so surprising that some 
looked upon that letter, being published after the election, as 
a hoax, as not authentic, and only gotten up for the occasion. 

In the same speech, 25th of January, 1859, Senator John- 

* Congressional Globe, Second Session, Thirty-fifth Congress. 

t After Mr. Hallett, as Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, had on the 
third day of the sitting of the National Convention at Cincinnati, reported the 
platform, he added, apart from it, a resolution " with respect to overland com- 
munication with the Pacific." This resolution was taken up, and, on motion of 
Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware, it was laid on the table by a vote of — yeas, 154; 
nays, 120. The Convention then, after completing the platform, nominated Mr. 
Buchanan for the Presidency. " The nomination was over, the platform com- 
plete; the creed of the Democratic party, so far as that Convention went, was 
finished." In the evening session the resolution relative to the Pacific Railroad 
was passed. 

9 



130 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

son, reviewing the political aspects of the times, beheld, as 
he thought, a serious departure from the maxims of the Con- 
stitution and wise precepts of the fathers and founders of 
the Republic. In this degeneracy the Democratic party had 
shared, and he could not recognize the right of its Presiden- 
tial Conventions to expound periodically, beyond all appeal, 
certain tenets, the adoption of which constitute a true Demo- 
crat. The debate took a wide range, and among its passages 
is one which reads now with peculiar interest and signifi- 
cance. Jefferson Davis had replied to Senator Johnson, and 
the latter in a rejoinder reiterating his honest convictions 
as a strict constructionist, added, in conclusion : 

" But the gentleman, by way of being a little facetious, speaking 
of my reference to a change in the Constitution, alluded to the num- 
ber of candidates that might be before the country in reference, as I 
understood him, to a distinguished office. 

"Mr. Davis. — I was answering you, sir; the office you spoke of. 

Senator Johnson hoped that all improper appliances will 
be omitted by national conventions in bringing forward 
great men in future. 

"I think," he said, "the people of the different States are as com- 
petent to judge of their own citizens, and their qualifications and 
various merits, and their worth, as a national convention ; and the 
chances are that they would be equally as pure and as good men as 
would be brought forward by a national convention or a Congres- 
sional caucus. At this point, and I know I do it in a spirit of kind- 
ness, I assure the Senator I am willing to widen the field, so that if 
he has any aspirations in that way he may have a chance ; I have 
none. 

" Mr. Davis. — I have disclaimed in your favor already. 

" Mr. Johnson of Tennessee. — I increase your chance, particularly 
as I live in the South. But the idea seems to be, that you cannot 
come forward and discuss any great measure that has a tendency to 
popularize our free institutions, but you must be associated with the 
Presidency. That seems to have been the summum bonvm of every 
thing in this country. It is the climax of comparison and of aspira- 
tion ; and whenever you make a move that has a tendency to popu- 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 1 3 1 

larize our free institutions, or carry the Government nearer to the 
people, it is said, ' Oh ! you are a candidate for the Presidency.' 

"Mr. Davis. — I ask the Senator now, as he is replying to me, 
whether he did not bring in that himself, and whether my remarks 
were not in reply to him on that point ? 

" Mr. Johnson of Tennessee. — Bring in what ? 

" Mr. Davis. — The whole subject of the mode of nominating a 
candidate for President. 

" Mr. Johnson of Tennessee. — Most assuredly I did ; but I made no 
particular allusion to any set of individuals being candidates ; the 
Senator did. That is the difference between us. I introduced the 
subject, and he alluded to the chances of particular individuals. 
That is all the difference. He brings cases up ; I have a right to 
comment on those cases, in making a reply ; and as I before told the 
Senator, I am not in his way. We have got to making Presidents 
in modern times, so that nobody knows who is safe. I do assure the 
Senator that I prefer to discharge my duty faithfully as an honest 
representative of the States or the people. Occupying that position 
— the Senate will pardon me for the expression, and I do not use it 
in a profane sense — when contrasted with being President of the 
United States, I say damn the Presidency ! it is not worthy of the 
aspirations of a man who believes in doing good, and is in a position 
to serve his country by popularizing her free institutions. 

" The Presidency ! I would rather be an honest man, an honest 
representative, than be President of the United States forty times ! 
The Presidency is the absorbing idea, the great Aaron's rod that 
swallows up every other thing ; and hence we see the best legislation 
for the country impaired, ruined and biased. The idea of President- 
making ought to be scouted out of the Halls of Congress. Our legis- 
lation should be for the country, and let President-making alone. 
Let the people attend to that. Confer the great privilege, the con 
stitutional right, upon the people to make their own Presidents, and 
not have them made by national conventions or by Congress ; let the 
people make them themselves ; and we shall have better Presidents, 
better Administrations, more economy, more honesty, more of every 
thing that tends to constitute an upright and correct Government." 

Among the supporters of the Pacific Railroad bill was, 
naturally enough, David C. Broderick, Senator from Cali- 
fornia, a man who by great personal force of character had 
worked himself from the ranks of labor into a most distin- 
guished position. Like Johnson, he was a self-made man. 



132 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Toombs said— and I quote the Georgian, as his known pro- 
clivities and associations elevate the sentiments which he 
had the candor to offer on the grave of one in every politi- 
cal sense antagonistic to him, and as he was the only ultra 
Southerner in the Senate who had the courage to recognize 
the merits of a dead foe — Toombs said, Broderick was 
bold, honorable, truthful, attached to the interests of his 
country, " clear in his office,'' and a man that he considered 
an honor to the American Senate. Springing from the hum- 
blest walks of society, by virtue of his strength of character, 
and in his native, and in early life, almost uncultivated in- 
tellect, he rose to be a peer of the proudest in the land, and 
conducted himself in the Senate " in such a manner as to win 
respect and approbation, notwithstanding the many preju- 
dices which had surrounded his advent into this body, pro- 
duced, it may be, by the many and stern partisan conflicts 
which marked his active but troubled career." Toombs 
trusted him " as a faithful and honest and upright Senator."* 
The temporary conflict of two such men as Jolmson and 
Broderick in such an illustrious arena, presents too much 
valuable suggestivencss not only to the youth of the Repub- 
lic, but to the revilers of republican government abroad to 
be passed over with mere mention. Broderick, a founder of 
empire on the Pacific, was an earnest advocate of a Pacific 
Railroad. Johnson, who had actually given life to a class 
where independent expression of opinion was regarded, to 
say the least, as presumption, was, as we have seen, an 
equally earnest antagonist of the measure. Both were 
strongly illustrative of popular thought ; and the brief pas- 
sage between them has additional interest, as exhibiting the 
characteristics of the localities in which they had respect- 
ively achieved success. Broderick desired the Senator from 
Tennessee, and every Senator within hearing, to understand 
that the State of California was no mendicant at the door 

* Congressional Globe, First Session, Thirty-sixth Congress, p. 749. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 133 

of the Senate Chamber, asking for an appropriation to build 
a railroad from Mississippi to her borders. He rather de- 
manded it, and lie believed, if there was any generosity in 
the Senate, it should be given. " The State of California," 
said he, " has sent between six and seven hundred million 
dollars to the Atlantic States ; and what have you sent us 
in return for our money? Nothing. If the State of Cali- 
fornia for fifty days should withhold her money from you, 
the banking interests, the commercial interests, and the 
manufacturing interests of the thirty-one States on this side 
of the Rocky Mountains would be paralyzed." Senator 
Broderick had heard that Johnson was in favor of the pur- 
chase of Cuba, and did not think it in accordance with a 
strict construction of the Constitution. He was further 
surprised that the latter, with whom he voted to give one 
hundred and sixty acres of land away to actual settlers, 
should be so alarmed at giving twenty miles of land on each 
side of the road to the contractors who would build it to 
California. 

Senator Broderick's remarks conveyed more feeling than 
argument. He wanted the road built. His desires were 
uppermost. Senator Johnson did not see any constitutional 
authority to build it. lie had gone over that ground pre- 
viously, and in replying to Broderick confined himself to the 
gold connection between California and the Atlantic States. 
He thought the United States successful before they attained 
California. They had been subjected to and had survived 
many trials, and had also had a " good deal of manufacturing, 
a G"ood deal of very successful banking and commerce" before 
that event. In continuation, he said : 

" Where does the gold from California go to ? While they dig 
in their gold-fields in California, we dig in our corn-fields, in our 
cotton-fields, and in our rice-fields, on this side of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mi issippi, 
and other States, might ask, what would you do but for our cotton. 
Cotton is just as necessary in commerce as gold. All that gold, when 



134 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

it goes to New York or any other point, goes abroad ; and we have 
run through our mints in seven years sis or seven hundred millions 
of gold. 

" Where did it go ? Turn to your tables of exports, and there you 
find it went off with your bags of cotton, your hogsheads of tobacco, 
and tierces of rice. "What would your country have done but for 
rice, cotton and tobacco ? What would the country have done but 
for your manufactured articles? Gold is the peculiar product of 
California ; cotton is the peculiar product of the South ; hogs and 
horses are the peculiar products of the Western States. You find 
that there is a reciprocity in trade. California brings her gold to the 
United States because she can do better with it here than anywhere 
else. If she could send it from San Francisco to England direct it 
would go there. Withhold gold from that point where it will com- 
mand the greatest price ! Withhold gold from going where it will 
command the greatest price ! The Senator might as well attempt to 
lock up the winds or chain the waves of the ocean as to place gold 
beyond the influence of those laws which control the commercial 
world. Gold, like every other article of trade, will go where it is in 
the greatest demand. Gold will go where it gets the greatest price ; 
so will cotton, tobacco, and every other article of commerce. 

" Let us reverse the argument, and ask what would California have 
done for flour, what would California have done for manufactured 
articles, if it had not been for the States on this side ? What would 
she have done for iron 1 What would she have done for all those 
things that constitute her a great people \ With the exception of 
gold, she would not have been much. While you are digging gold, 
you must have something to eat and to wear, and you send your 
gold off because you must use it to buy those articles somewhere else. 
That is all." 

Within eight months from the period of this debate Brod- 
erick had passed from the scenes of his usefulness, his labors 
and his ambition. He fell in a duel in California, the cir- 
cumstances inciting which had been forced upon him. In- 
deed, it was prognosticated at the time of his return home 
that machinations were on foot to victimize him to the unscru- 
pulous politicians of the Buchanan party, whom he had de- 
nounced and defied, and the State politicians who could only 
propitiate success by ruining him personally, politically, or 
in both ways, for Broderick's person and politics were com- 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS OK 1 3 5 

mitted to each other. Naturally a bold man, his isolated 
position contributed to strengthen this characteristic by 
rendering him little likely to yield to those restraints which 
often compel men of family to expediencies. For the same 
reason he was reliable and immovable. His ambition was 
great and laudable ; and the position he attained sufficiently 
indicates the strong will which could triumph over a com- 
munity largely fashioned of the elements which were com- 
bined in himself. He was born in Washington city, of 
poor Irish parents ; his father, a stone-cutter, worked on 
the Capitol, which was to echo in a tribute to his memory — 
a gallant rebuke to the "mudsill" doctrine of the South. 
He removed to Xew York, worked at his trade, mixed in 
politics successfully, but was defeated for a seat in Congress, 
and departed for the Pacific shores, declaring he would come 
back a Senator. He did ; and no more appropriate record 
can be raised to him than that expressed by himself in the 
following passage, which it is difficult to characterize, ex- 
hibiting as it does a fine tribute to the working classes, while 
displaying the unhealed wounds of early ambition in their 
ranks ; and the deep retrospective feelings of a disappointed 
man, blended with the triumphant, almost imperious air of 
one who after great labor had defiantly organized success. 
It occurs in his very able speech against the Kansas-Lecomp- 
ton Constitution, and in reply to the "mudsill" speech of 
Senator Hammond already alluded to : 

" I, sir, am glad that the Senator has spoken thus. It may have 
the effect of arousing in the working-men that spirit which has been 
lying dormant for centuries. It may also have the effect of arousing 
the two hundred thousand men with pure white skins in South Car- 
olina, who are now degraded and despised by thirty thousand aris- 
tocratic slaveholders. It may teach them to demand what is the 
power 

" 'Link'd with success, assumed and kept with skill, 
That moulds another's weakness to its will; 
Wields with their hands, but, still to them unknown, 
Makes even their mightiest deeds appear his own?' 



136 I TFE A XD P UBLIG SEE VICES 

" I suppose, sir, the Senator from South Carolina did not intend to 
be personal in his remarks, to any of his peers upon this floor. If I 
had thought so, I would have noticed them at the time. I am, sir, 
with one exception, the youngest in years of the Senators upon this 
floor. It is not long since I served an apprenticeship of five years 
at one of the most laborious mechanical trades pursued by man — a 
trade that from its nature devotes its follower to thought, but debars 
him from conversation. I would not have alluded to this, if it were 
not for the remarks of the Senator from South Carolina ; and the 
thousands who know that I am the son of an artisan and have been 
a mechanic, would feel disappointed in me if I did not reply to him. 
I am not proud of this. I am sorry it is true. I would that I could 
have enjoyed the pleasures of life in my boyhood's days, but they 
were denied to me. I say this with pain. I have not the admiration 
for the men of the class from whence I sprung that might be expect- 
ed ; they submit too tamely to oppression, aud are too prone to neg- 
lect their rights and duties as citizens. But, sir, the class of society 
to whose toil I was born, under our form of government, will control 
the destinies of this nation. If I were inclined to forget my connec- 
tion with them, or to deny "that I sprung from them, this Chamber 
would not be the place in which I could do either. While I hold a 
seat here, I have but to look at the beautiful capitals adorning the 
pilasters that support this roof, to be reminded of my father's talent, 
and to see his handiwork. 

'• I left the scenes of my youth and manhood for the ' far West,' 
because I wa3 tired of the struggles and the jealousies of men of my 
class, who could not understand why one of their fellows should seek 
to elevate his condition above the common level. I made my new 
abode among strangers where labor is honored. I had left without 
regret; there remained no tie of blood to bind me to any being in 
existence. If I fell in the struggle for reputation and fortune there 
was no relative on earth to mourn my fall. The people of California 
elevated me to the highest office within their gift. My election was 
not the result of an accident. For years I had to struggle, often see- 
ing the goal of my ambition within my reach ; it was again and again 
taken from me by the aid of men of my own class. I had not only 
them to contend with, but almost the entire partisan press of my 
State was subsidized by Government money and patronage to oppose 
my election. I sincerely hope, sir, the time will come when such 
speeches as that from the Senator from South Carolina, will be con- 
t'd a lesson to the laborers of the nation."* 

* Speech of March 22, 185S. 



OF ANDREW JOHN'S OK 1 3 7 

Broderick might well feel proud of his success. The great 
opposition he had overcome but added to his natural inde- 
pendence. He held similar views as Johnson regarding the 
assumption of cliques to read men who declined to follow 
their dictation out of the Democratic party. Hence he soon 
was in an attitude of defiance to Mr. Buchanan and his 
rulers ; while his colleague from California, Mr. Gwin, was 
a ready and reckless co-operator with the dominant Southern 
conspirators. To the latter, Broderick became very obnox- 
ious, while he won the steady respect of the wisest and best 
statesmen of all parties in the Chamber — men such as Doug- 
las, Crittenden and Seward. His death was the sensation 
of the day ; and its announcement in Congress elicited more 
than usual feeling and eloquence. The proceedings in both 
Houses were in striking contrast to the usual routine of such 
occasions.* Mr. John B. Haskin, who had been his school- 
mate, spoke of the integrity and earnestness of his youth. 
Mr. Sickles illustrated his energy by describing him as " a 
man of no recreation," while Senator Seward, regarding the 
extension of our empire as the great national event of the day, 
thus indicated his place in history. " He who shall write its 
history will find materials copious and fruitful of influence 
upon the integrity of the American Union and the destiny 
of the American people. He will altogether fail, however, if 
he does not succeed in raising Houston, Rusk and Broderick 
to the rank amou? organizers of our States which the world 
has assigned to Winthrop and Villiers, Raleigh and Pcnn, 
Baltimore and Oglethorpe, as well as in placing Taylor and 
Scott and "Worth and Quitman as Generals, by the side of 
Washington and Greene and Marion. Impartiality will 
require him to testify that Broderick, more vigorously and 

* In the Senate, Haun of California, Crittenden, Seward, Foster of Connecti- 
cut, Pool ■ of Yermont, Wade of Ohio, and Toombs; and in the House, Hurch 
of California, Haskin and Sickles of New York, Hickman of Pennsylvania, Bur- 
lingame of Massachusetts, Isaac X. Morris of Illinois, and Stout of Oregon, de- 
livered biographical or eulogistic addresses. 



138 LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

resolutely than any of his predecessors, overcame accidents 
and circumstances which opposed his success. Neither birth, 
nor fortune, nor education, nor training, nor patronage, nor 
association, nor prestige of any kind favored ambition in his 
case." Alluding to the settlement of California and the 
tumultuous element which flocked thither, Senator Seward 
said : " "We asked how and when shall this political chaos be 
reduced into the solid substance of a civil State ? Even 
while we were yet asking these questions, we saw that State 
rise up before us in just proportions, firm, vigorous, strong 
and free, complete in the fullest material and moral suffi- 
cency, and, at the same time, loyal and faithful to the Fed- 
eral Union. The hand that principally shaped it was that 
of David C. Broderick."* 

* Congressional Globe, First Se3sion, Thirty-sixth Congress, Feb. 1-3, 1S60. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 

Johnson's Position on the Slavery Question — Tolerant, not Radical — Proj .<,<si- 
tion in 1842 — 1S49 — Representation on a Slave Basis — Grounds of Sup ^ort 
to the Compromise Measures — Not a Believer in Compromises — Right <tud 
Virtue always Suffer by Compromising with "Wrong and Vice — " Contjrv- 
atism" the Plea of Despots — Did not sing Peans to the Union — Did not 
Believe it in Danger — On Union Saviors and Saving — Judged othen by 
Himself — His Position in Contrast with some Northern Democrats — His Idea 
of John C. Calhoun — A Sectarian not a Nationalist — Johnson's name pre- 
sented to the Charleston-Baltimore Convention for the Presidency — "Voted 
for through Thirty-six Ballotings — Letter of Withdrawal. 

On the Slavery question, Senator Johnson held to the 
dogmas as then received by the party with which he gener- 
ally acted, but it was not an institution superior to all others. 
or on which he would sacrifice the integrity of the Republic. 
While never regarding the institution as permanent, he, as 
a Southern-born man. has uniformly sustained it. In his 
own words he then believed that slavery had its foundation 
and would find its perpetuity alone in the Union, and the 
Union its continuance in a non-interference with it. A re- 
view of his political life abundantly demonstrates his recog- 
nition of it as an existing institution. But while this is true, 
the support he yielded to it was not such as at all times to 
meet the approval of ultra and extreme Southern men. 
More than once his independent action was exposed to their 
censure, and to the charge of entertaining anti-slavery senti- 
ments. As early as 1842, on a proposition to divide the 

(139) 



140 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

State of Tennessee into Congressional Districts, he intro- 
duced into the Legislature the following resolutions : 

"Resolved, liy the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That 
tlie basis to be observed in laying tbe State off into Congressional 
Districts shall be the voting population, without any regard to the 
three-fifths of the Kegro population. 

"Resolved^ That the one hundred and twenty thousand and eighty- 
three voters shall be divided by eleven, and that each eleventh of the 
one hundred and twenty thousand eighty-three voters, shall be en- 
titled to one member in the Congress of the United States, or as near 
is may be practicable without a division of counties." 

These resolutions, together with his Homestead policy, 
subjected him to severe criticism by radical Southern men. 
He, however, pursued the tenor of his wa}\s and thoughts, 
and did not permit himself to be forced into extreme views 
which he could not conscientiously hold, on the one hand ; 
or into the expression of passionately self-destructive antag- 
onism on the other. He could not accept their views and 
would not part with his own. Hence lie took the institution 
of slavery as it stood. It was so interwoven with all the 
political and social interests of the South, where he resided, 
that so long as it remained subservient to the Constitution 
and laws of the country, he continued to yield it his counte- 
nance and tolerant support ; but when it attempted to rise 
above the authority of the Government itself, and waged war 
against the nation, he promptly took his stand by the Gov- 
ernment as paramount authority, and as the only hope for 
the perpetuity of free institutions, and the attainment of a 
higher civilization. 

But on this question, as well as on all others I have intro- 
duced in this Memoir, he has spoken clearly and understand- 
ing!}' for himself. Addressing his constituents at the open- 
ing of his canvass for Congress in the spring of 1849, in a 
Bpeech which was subsequently published iu pamphlet form, 

he said : " The whole number of slaves in fifteen 

States of the Union is three million — estimated at four hun- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 141 

dred dollars each, amount to twelve hundred million dollars. 
At first, the mind is not prepared to conceive the vast amount 
of capital vested in slaves in the United States. The pro- 
ducts of slave labor in this country, aside from their natural 
increase, and the amount to supply the home market in three 
articles alone — cotton, tobacco and rice — amount to nearly 
seventy-two million dollars, making more than one-half of 
all our exports during- the last fiscal year, and constituting a 
large item in the commerce of the world. 

" The institution of slavery was introduced into this coun- 
try by our forefathers, anterior to the existence of our pres- 
ent form of government, and recognized by the Constitution 
of the United States, and made a part of the basis of repre- 
sentation. It has become so closely connected with the 
operations of the Government, and the commerce of the 
whole country, that it may now be considered as one of the 
ingredients of our political and social system. 

" In this connection I might refer to one or two objections 
urged by the non-slaveholding States to the institution as it 
exists in the Southern States. One is, that in apportioning 
the representation among the several States, that three-fifths 
of the slaves are included in the basis, and thereby the slave 
power is increased in the councils of the nation, and by its 
abolition this power in the South would be weakened. This 
should be no cause of complaint on their part. There are 
three millions of slaves in the United States [now estimated 
at four millions]. By the Constitution, in apportioning repre- 
sentation among the several States, only three-fifths of them 
are counted ; assuming the ratio to be one hundred thousand, 
would give them eighteen members of Congress — three-fifths 
of three millions being eighteen hundred thousand. If they 
were all free persons it would give the South twelve mem- 
bers more at the same ratio — twelve hundred thousand being 
two-fifths of three millions. It will at once be perceived 
that this objection is not well founded ; instead of slavery 



142 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

being an ingredient of political power to the South, it is an 
element of political weakness." 

In 1850, durine a discussion on a series of resolutions — 
introduced by himself into the House of Representatives — 
substantially similar to the Compromise measures, Johnson 
gave expression to his faith in the necessity of the supremacy 
of the Union : " We all," said he, " belong to the same great 
American family ; we all profess to be attached to the Con- 
stitution of the country — that Constitution which has been 
established by our forefathers. Then in the spirit of the 
provisions of that sacred instrument, we ought all to come 
forward, and co-operate in erecting an altar to our common 
country, upon which each one of us, whether from the East 
or the West, may sacrifice something to preserve the har- 
mony that has heretofore existed between the extremes 
of the Union. In this spirit I have left the details to be 
regulated when the bill shall be reported. If one shall be 
reported, or if one shall be sent to us from the other end of 
the Capitol, containing all the provisions specified in the 
resolutions, I shall sustain it ; or if it be presented in a 
series of measures, I shall sustain them in the order in which 
they are presented. If, however, the propositions be discon- 
nected, or if any effort be made to take one out of the series 
and force it upon the country, leaving the others unadjusted, 
I intend to hold myself uncommitted, and accommodate my- 
self to the exigencies of the case as they may arise. 

" In conclusion, I will only say, as relates to this Negro 
question, that I trust and hope in God's name, and I hope 
there is no irreverence in making this appeal, which I do 
with all solemnity, for if I know myself and the deep interest 
which I and others around me have in the welfare of our 
country and the harmonious working of our institutions, I 
trust and hope that Whigs and Democrats, the reflecting, 
Hie intelligent and the patriotic of both parties, will look to 
the extent, the length and breadth and height of this mo- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 143 

mentons question. I trust, in looking to the amount of public 
property and tranquillity and happiness, as well as the great 
value of property which is involved in the adjustment of our 
present difficulties, they will be brought to feel that the 
preservation of this Union is paramount to all other consid- 
erations." 

Mr. Johnson was not a compromise man, not a believer in 
compromises, and at a later period we find an explanation 
of his action at this time. He was for each of the measures 
because he believed it to be right, but advised both sections 
to abandon the idea of compromise and rely upon the guar- 
antees of the Constitution. He believed there never was a 
compromise in which either party to it was not wronged. 
He fell back on his old idea that there was a principle of 
right somewhere and that we should ascertain and maintain 
it. The history of compromises exhibited only an excuse 
for continual agitation. In 1820 we had a compromise. 
The Republic was agitated ; dissolution threatened before 
it was made, and when effected it became a permanent 
subject of contention, agitation and discussion until it was 
repealed. As Senator Johnson said, " You get up a great 
agitation and settle it by a compromise ; and then you keep 
up an agitation as to what the compromise means or what is 
the extent of its obligation. In 1850 several measures were 
passed as compromise measures. They produced a great 
agitation. A dissolution of the Union was threatened ; and 
in 1851 some great pacificators came forward — men who 
were willing to be sacrificed on the altar of their country 
on another compromise. That compromise has since been 
a continual and increasing source of agitation." In contin- 
uation, he said : 

" Whenever there is a difficulty between vice and virtue, vice can 
get up an agitation, an issue with virtue, and of course vice is always 
ready to compromise ; but when virtue compromises with vice, vice 
obtains the ascendancy. Whenever there is a contest between truth 
aud falsehood, and it is settled by a compromise, truth gives way 



144 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEP VICES 

and falsehood triumphs. Is it not time to stop compromising? I 
think we have compromises enough, and I -will say here in my place 
to-day, that I believe the agitation which has taken place, first in 
getting up compromises, and then upon the compromises after they 
are made, has done more to make the institution of Slavery perma- 
nent than all the other action of the Federal Government." 

The constant pressure outside solidified the institution in 
the Southern States, and Southern men were more reconciled 
to it than ever. In agitation might be found all the evil 
which surrounded them. Hence he implored both sides to 
seek the right and abandon fruitless compromises. 

" Let us agree, North and South, to abide by the Constitution of 
the country, and have no more compromises. "We have been com- 
promised and conservatised until there is hardly any Constitution 
left. We first compromise and settle a question wrong, and then we 
must all turn conservatives and stand by the wrong that has been 
accomplished by the compromise. Compromise! I almost wash the 
term was stricken out of the English language. Conservatism ! It 
is the argument of despots and tyrants, one that entails an existing 
institution in its present form whether it be right or wrong."* 

Johnson, though opposed to compromises, finally voted 
for the individual measures on the basis stated by himself, 
and on the distinct and oft reiterated doctrine that the 
Constitution was superior to all compromises, and the 
country paramount to party. He voted for the measures, 
imploring- Whigs and Democrats and the thoughtful men 
of whatever side to feel that " the preservation of the Union 
was paramount to all other considerations/' 

To tin's sentiment, uttered in the equable but earnest 
tones of advice from one who, even much later, in the un- 
suspecting honesty of his own patriotism, believed the Union 
not in danger, Senator Johnson has stood with a boldness 
and a heroism equal in every respect to the contingencies 
involved in it. For years after the adoption of the Com- 
promise measures, as late as January, 1859, he declared he 

* G , First Session, Thirty-fifth Congress, 1853. 



OF AUtDREW JOEXSON. 1 45 

did not sing peans to the Union, because it was not likely 
ever to be in any real danger. This sentiment was elicited 
in the debate on the Pacific Railroad, when among the 
reasons adduced for its construction was, that it would be 
" a great bond of Union." Senator Johnson thought that 
if the Union hung together by no stronger tenure, it cer- 
tainly would not survive. And this led him to the cry of 
Union saving that accompanied every matter brought be- 
fore the public. 

" ' The Union ! the Union !' is the constant cry. Sir, I am for the 
Union ; but in every little speech I have to mate, I do not deem it 
necessary to sing peans and hosannas to the Union. I think the 
Union will stand uninterrupted ; it will go on, as it has gone on, 
without my singing peans to it ; and this thing of saving the Union,. 
I will remark here, has been done so often that it has got to be 
entirely a business transaction. Every now and then, as Addison 
used to say, great men come up in clusters ; and there seems to come 
up a cluster of individuals who are exceedingly anxious for immor- 
tality, either in this or the other world, perhaps in both, and they 
must get up a crisis ; the different portions of the Union must be 
arrayed against each other, and it becomes necessary to save the 
Union. Hence there are compromises on one side and on the other ; 
and they all come up and seem to make a sacrifice on the altar of 
their common country, and the Union is once more saved !" 

" I have," said he, " never considered the Union yet in 
danger." He did not believe that all the factionists in the 
country or the Government could pull it to pieces or dis- 
solve the bands that bound it together — bands of mutual 
interest, of patriotism, the idea and association of a common 
suffering. He did not believe, to narrow the necessity even 
down to the selfish motives which are said to control men, 
that the sordid principle of self-interest could dissolve the 
Union. "I cannot be," he emphatically said ; "it cannot be 
dissolved !" 

He judged of others by the faith in his own head and 
heart. Knowing that the compact could not be legally 
broken by the band of disquiet and ambitious politicians 
10 



146 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

who were in the habit of bewildering their auditors and 
themselves with metaphysical theories on States' rights 
and periodically threatening to invoke the " God of battles," 
he could not, would not, allow himself to believe that, by 
persistent audacity and artifice, subdivisions of party could 
be so effected as to produce the desired contingency ; and 
that even the high places of the Government could become 
so inoculated with infamy as to turn popular trust into par- 
ricidal treason. 

His faith in the Union was too great, his pride in the 
bountv of its institutions, under which men like himself 
had risen to eminence, too glorious, to comprehend how a 
hand could be raised against it. This very faith and pride, 
however, but made him the stronger to face the crisis when 
it broke upon him in all its terrible reality. 

Such were Senator Johnson's views on slavery up to the 
breaking out of the Rebellion. He could not, considering his 
relations with a Southern State, have said less. It showed 
remarkable strength in his own convictions not to have said 
more, especially when leading Northern Democrats, seek- 
ing political promotion, in and out of Congress — men like 
Benjamin F. Butler and Benjamin F. Hallett of Massachu- 
setts, Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Jesse D. Bright and 
Graham N. Fitch of Indiana, Jeremiah S. Black and William 
Bigler of Pennsylvania, Joseph Lane of Oregon, and others, 
outrivaled Southern leaders in devotion to Southern insti- 
tutions. I refer to this fact, not to invite invidious criticism 
on many of the latter who have well served the Union cause 
since, but to show by contrast the independent and brave 
position of Andrew Johnson at the time. He gave slavery 
a respectful recognition and tolerant speech, when his 
Northern compeers chiefly studied and explained, and 
made capital by extolling it. But it was the fashion in 
those days to look for all wisdom and statesmanship in emi- 
nent Southern men and those who agreed with them. In 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 1 4 7 

this connection, and as illustrative of Senator Johnson's 
individuality, his idea of John C. Calhoun has an interest. 
He not only did not think him infallible, but he denied him 
practical power as a politician. 

" Mr. Calhoun had some peculiar notions about govern- 
ment ; and if he were now living, he and all the men in the 
United States could not put a government into successful 
and practical operation under the system he laid down. 
He was a logician ; he could reason from premise to con- 
clusion with unerring certainty, but he was as often wrong 
in taking his premises as any body else. Admit his pre- 
mises, and you were swept off by the conclusions ; but look 
at his premises, and he was just as often wrong as any other 
statesman ; and I think Mr. Calhoun was more of a poli- 
tician than a statesman. Mr. Calhoun never possessed that 
class of mind that enabled him to found a great party. He 
founded a sect ; and if he had been a religionist, he would 
have been a mere sectarian. He would never have gone 
beyond founding a sect peculiar to himself. His mind was 
metaphysical and logical, and he was a great man in his 
peculiar channel, but he might be more properly said to 
have founded a sect than a great national party." 

This free sketch of the South Carolina nullification idol was 
presented in the Senate just twelve days before the assem- 
bling in Charleston of the National Democratic Convention 
to nominate a candidate for the Presidency. The Democ- 
racy of Tennessee instructed their delegates to put tho 
name of Andrew Johnson in nomination, which was accord- 
ingly done. Up to the thirty-sixth balloting he received the 
vote of his State, after which Mr. Ewing of Tennessee 
withdrew the name, in the hope of furthering the chances 
of a nomination. Previous to the balloting, there was 
great contention on the adoption of a platform, the Douglas 
doctrine of territorial sovereignty on the Slavery question 
prevailing, when the delegations of Alabama, Mississippi, 



148 LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNS OK 

Florida, Texas, all of the Louisiana delegation except two, 
all of the South Carolina delegation except three, three of 
the Arkansas delegation, two of the Delaware delegation, 
and one from North Carolina, withdrew from the Conven- 
tion. After sitting for ton days and finding it impossible 
to effect a nomination, the Convention adjourned on the 6th 
of May, to meet at Baltimore on the 18th June. On the first 
dav of the re-assembling in Baltimore of the National Con- 
vention, Senator Johnson withdrew his name in the follow- 
ing letter to a leading member of the Tennessee delegation : 

"AVashlxgton City, June 18, 1860. 

u General Samuel Milligan : Dear Sir— Whilst deeply thank- 
ful to you and your associate delegates in the National Convention 
for your support of my name as a candidate for the Presidency, 
indorsing and reflecting therein the honor done me by the State 
Convention of the Democracy of Tennessee, an honor and distinc- 
tion given my name by the people whom I have served, and whose 
confidence is worthy of the best efforts and highest ambition of any 
man, yet in this hour of peril to the harmony and integrity of the 
Democratic party — in this hour of serious apprehension for the 
future welfare and perpetuity of our Government— I cannot and 
will not suffer my name to add to the difficulties and embarrass- 
ment of my friends. I feel that it is incumbent upon you, upon me, 
that every thing that can honorably and consistently be done should 
be done by us to secure unity and harmony of action, to the end 
that correct principles may be maintained, the preservation of the 
only national organization remaining continued, and, above all, that 
the Union, with the blessings, guarantees and protection of its Con- 
stitution, perpetuated for ever. 

" That the Tennessee delegation may so act, and that in no con- 
tingency they may find themselves embarrassed by the action of our 
State in regard to myself, I desire through you to request that they 
will not present my name to the Convention at Baltimore, and to 
each of them tender my regards. 

" I have the honor to be, etc., Andrew Johnson." 



CHAPTER IX. 

Johnson's compeers in the united states senate. 

Party Leaders iu the Senate — Douglas, Crittenden, Seward and Davis — A 
Scene in the Senate — Crittenden Replying to Green — Personal Sketch of 
Crittenden — His Political Schooling — Defends it — The Oldest Senator — 
On the Kansas Question — Defending his own Rights, learns to Defend those 
of others — The Crittenden-Montgomery Bill — The English Bill Votes — 
Crittenden Opposes Slidell's Cuba Bill — Parting with the old Chamber: 
His Love for the Union — Patriarch of t lie Senate — Stephen A. Douglas — 
Lessons of his Life — His wide-spread Fame — Chairman of the Committee 
on Territories — Early Grounds on Non-intervention by Congress with 
Slavery — Fundamental Principle of the Kansas-Nebraska Act — Bu- 
chanan breaks Faith with it — Douglas stands by Popular Rights — Debate on 
" Lecomptou'' — Scene iu the Senate when Douglas Spoke — His Speech — 
The Duty of a Senator — The States and the Union — Presidential Tests of 
Party Fealty — Senatorial Contest in Illinois — What he had to Contend 
with — Defeats Lincoln on the Senatorship — -Liucolu Defeats him for the 
Presidency — Hatred of Buchanan and the Disunionists for Douglas- — Pro- 
phetic Views on the Rebellion — Visit and Advice to Lincoln — Wants two 
hundred thousand Men at the first call — His Last Words — William H. 
Seward — His Distinguished Career from 1820 — Governor of New York — 
Controversy with Virginia and Georgia touching Fugitive Slaves — Re- 
fuses to give up M'Leod the Ship-burner — The Advocate of Greeks, Hun- 
garians and Irish opposed to Compromises of '50 — "Higher Law" and 
"Irrepressible Conflict" — On Lecomptou — Character of his Eloquence — 
Jefferson Davis — Quincy Adams Prognosticates his Destruction — Leaves 
Congress for the Mexican War — At Monterey — Noted Movement at Buena- 
vista — Sir Colin Campbell Imitates Him — Refuses Commission of Briga- 
dier on States-tights Grounds — Sent to the United States Senate — ■ 
Repudiates the Union Bank Bonds — Defeated by Henry S. Foote for Gov- 
ernorship of Mississippi — Advocates Franklin Pierce — Secretary of War, 
his Administration — Opposed to General Scott — His Power in and Use of 
the Cabinet — Ou a United South — Contemplates Disunion with Emotion 
at Pass Christian — Feelings for the Flag — Dissolution before Submission 
— Views on Prominent Measures — In the Senate — Visits the North — 
Modified Sentiments — Views for North and South — Union Address to 
Massachusetts — Disunion Address to Mississippi — As a Congressional 
Leader — Hammond, Hunter, Mason, Toombs, Iverson, C. C.Clay, A. G. 
Brown, Slidell, Benjamin, Wigfall, the Characteristics and Manner of 
Davis. 

Before proceeding further with this narrative which 
now reaches the eve of the greatest events in the history 

(149) 



150 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

of the Republic, it is fit that we take a glance at the promi- 
nent party leaders in the Senate of the United State?, where 
Andrew Johnson had already won a peculiar and distinctive 
reputation, and where he was destined to achieve a still 
further and more impressively brilliant and useful renown. 

The Senate of the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses 
was composed of forcible representative men from a ma- 
jority of the States. There was much more than average 
ability and political experience in the body, as a whole ; 
while in several special instances the Chamber was dis- 
tinguished by the presence of statesmen and politicians 
who were received by the whole country as the successors 
of the Clays and Calhouns, the Websters and Casses, 
the Bcntons, Haynes, Wrights and Prestons, whose names 
are linked with great and exciting, national and sectional 
parties, measures and conflicts. 

Among the men of mark, distinguished in the past on 
other fields, either as party leaders or party workers, or at 
the time for their prominent or passionate co-operation in 
the conflicts of the day who were the compeers of Johnson 
in the Chamber, were Douglas of Illinois, Seward of New 
York, Davis and A. G. Brown of Mississippi, Crittenden 
of Kentucky, Hammond of South Carolina, Hunter and 
Mason of Virginia, Toombs and Iverson of Georgia, Slidell 
and Benjamin of Louisiana, Wade and Pugh of Ohio, Hale 
of New Hampshire, Wilson and Sumner of Massachusetts. 
Green of Missouri, Fesscnden and Hamlin of Maine, Bell 
of Tennessee. Bayard of Delaware, Bright of Indiana, Doo- 
little of Wisconsin, C. C. Clay of Alabama, Broderick and 
Gwin of California, Foster of Connecticut, Stuart of Michi- 
gan, Clingman of North Carolina, Harlan of Iowa, Cam- 
eron and Bigler of Pennsylvania, and the soldier Senators — 
Houston of Texas, Shields of Minnesota, and Lane of 
Oregon. Others there were in the Chamber also, abler 
men than some mentioned, such as Preston King of New 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 151 

York, Foot and Collamer of Vermont, and others, who did 
not seek occasion to speak, but permitted the occasion to 
have the benefit of their wisdom, experience and equable 
judgment. 

Pre-eminent in the variously distinguished group, those 
upon whom the greatest amount of political power and hope, 
as well as the widest range of popular interest respectively 
concentrated, were Douglas, Crittenden, Seward and Davis. 
Douglas, the apostle of a true Democracy ; Seward, the 
founder and best expounder of the new Republican party ; 
Davis, then the guardian rather than the guide of the slave- 
owners' conspiracy, were undoubtedly the centres around 
which gathered inside and outside of the halls of Congress 
all the principle and interest lending strength to, or taking 
inspiration from the ideas with which they were identified. 
By the friends and disciples of Douglas and Seward, Qrit- 
tenden was respected for his independence, loved for his 
patriotism .. and applauded for the touching and elevated 
tones of eloquence by which he sought to check the turbu- 
lent spirit of the South and the equally reckless extremists 
of the North. He appealed to the prudent men of both 
sections, and by his experience and the associations of his 
lone- and honorable career commanded attention even where 
his healthy views did not suit the designs born of frenzy and 
diseased ambition. This allusion to his associations and 
his eloquence calls to mind a scene in the Senate, a sketch 
of which will serve to keep the eminent Kentuckian before 
the mind's eye of the reader. 

In one of the interesting episodes of the famous Kansas- 
Lecompton debate of March, 1858, an allusion made by 
Senator Green of Missouri, brought to his feet the venerable 
Senator who occupied a seat immediately next the bar of the 
Chamber, and nearly on the extreme left of the Vice-Presi- 
dent's chair. A man of medium height, and rather spare 
figure, his face is strongly marked, vears and thoughtful ex- 



152 t LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

pcrience completing the original outlines of nature. There 
is a warm, healthy flush over his features, as though a strong 
heart contributed to their sedate enthusiasm, and making a 
pleasant and picturesque contrast with the white hair that 
decorates his head. His manner is as marked as his features, 
disclosing earnestness and pathos ; while his matter is pre- 
sented with freshness, vigor and copiousness of language 
whieh command respectful attention. Even those who dif- 
fer with the Senator's views yield to his eloquence. But it 
is when rising above the sectionalities of debate, he invokes 
a national inspiration, and gives voice to it, that he is pe- 
culiarly affecting and effective, evoking from his hearers the 
tearful solicitude lie portrays himself. On the present oc- 
casion, he speaks of himself, and his words consequently are 
especially interesting. The eyes of the Senators of all sides, 
are inquiringly turned to him. The full galleries are ex- 
pectant, and many a political enthusiast who slept in the 
lobbies — for it is the day after the midnight scene of 
splendor, when Douglas addressed the Senate — is thoroughly 
awakened by the voice of the venerable orator. He said 
the Senator from Missouri was surprised at his feelings, 
and intimated that his schooling had been bad. Briefly 
reviewing the political points made by Senator Green, he 
said he knew his own defects, but did not like them to be 
attributed to the school in which he had been brought up. 

"If my education is defective,'' he said, "it is on account 
of some defect in me, and not in the school. The gentleman 
is a young man, and a young Senator. I hope and wish for 
him a long life of public usefulness. He may have learned 
much more than I have done ; and, if so, it only shows the 
superiority of his capacity to learn, for I am sure lie has not 
been in a better school. Sir, this is the school in which I 
was taught. I took lessons here when this was a very great 
body indeed. I will make no comparisons of what it is now, 
or was then or at any other time ; but I learned from your 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 153 

Clays and your Websters, your Calhouns and your Prestons, 
your Bentons and your Wrights, and such men. I am a 
scholar, I know, not likely to do much credit to the school 
in which I was taught ; and it is of very little consequence 
to the world, or to the pubKc, whether I have learned well 
or ill. It will soon he of no importance to this country or 
to any body." 

This proud yet modest speech created an interest in the 
speaker on the part of those strangers in town who did not 
know his person or career. They naturally asked who ho 
was ; and a dozen voices, with some surprise and much grati- 
fication, replied, " Crittenden of Kentucky." 

He was then the oldest Senator in the Chamber. It was 
more than forty years since he first entered it in a represent- 
ative character. He was a Senator before Webster, Cal- 
houn and Benton, long — many years — before Wright and 
Preston. He was not the pupil, but the contemporary, of 
those men. He learned with, and not, as he modestly says, 
from, them. 

With the great Kansas question and debate, which Avas 
the political centre around which all the elements of agita- 
tion revolved at the period under notice, Crittenden's name 
is inextricably woven. He opposed the admission of Kansas 
under the Topeka Constitution in 1S56, and also under the 
Lecompton Constitution in 1858, because he did not believe 
it had the sanction of the people. On the latter occasion 
Crittenden declared lie was a Southern man, as ready as any 
man to defend the South against any invasion of her rights. 
But the same feeling which inspired him to defend his own 
rights inspired him to defend the rights of others. 

During the debate the Senator from Kentucky had been 
delighted with the display made by Senators, North and 
South, of the resources of their sections. He heard them 
with great pride. One showed the mighty resources in 
products of the South ; another exhibited the skill, labor, 

r* .v. 



154 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

navigation, and commerce of the North. If a man might be 
proud of cither as separate nations, how should he feel at 
their union ? His allegiance was not to any particular sec- 
tion. He desired to be ruled by a spirit of justice, and did 
not weigh this matter in any sectional sense. He was anx- 
ious to aid in a settlement of all differences.* 

Senator Crittenden also opposed Slidcll's bill to facilitate 
the acquisition of Cuba. He was willing that President 
Buchanan should undertake negotiations for its purchase, 
but was too proud of his country on the one hand to admit 
that the island was a necessity to the United States, and 
on the other did not feel authorized to vote thirty millions 
at the disposal of the President merely to enable him " to 
commence a negotiation." 

On the removal of the Senate from the old to the new 
Chamber in the Capitol, a very impressive sight, rendered 
particularly interesting by the admission of ladies on the 
floor, the galleries being over-crowded, Senator Crittenden 
made a short but touching farewell to the scene of their 

* For this purpose Senator Crittenden offered a substitute for the bill admit- 
ting Kansas. It was defeated in the Senate by a vote of — yeas, 24 ; nays, 34 ; but 
was introduced into the House by Mr. Montgomery, of Pennsylvania, and passed 
— yeas, 120 ; nays, 112. The Crittenden-Montgomery Bill," as it was called, pro- 
vided for the submission of the Lecompton Constitution to the vote of the peo- 
ple of Kansas. If it had a majority, the President was to be informed, who 
would, by proclamation, declare Kansas admitted on that Constitution, without 
further Congressional interference. If rejected, it provided for a convention, 
to be called at an early day, under suitable guards, for the formation of another 
Constitution, and allowed the new State one Representative in Congress until 
the next census. The bill gave great satisfaction to the Anti-Lecomptonites. 
It was considered a national, and not a party, measure. On the 2d of April, on 
motion of Senator Green, the Senate passed a resolution disagreeing with the 
House bill— yeas S3, nays 23; and on the 8th, the House, on motion of Mr. 
Montgomery, "adhered to its amendment,'' by — yeas, ll'J ; nays, 111. Thus 
there was direct conflict between the branches of the National Legislature. The 
Washington States, March 19, 1858, thus confronted the bills : " The Senate bill 
dictates terms to a portion of the United States. The House bill but recognizes 
the rights which every State enjoys. The Senate bill accepts, after altering, 
the Southern clause in the Lecompton Constitution. The House bill admits 
Kansas, and refers the instrument, untouched, to the people. The Senate bill 
illegally perpetrates a cheat on the South, and humbugs the North. The House 



OF AXDRE W JOUXS OK 1 5 5 

labors, mingling with it memories of the great men who had 
left their impress on the very walls, and many hopes that 
the Senate would always maintain a powerful and con- 
servative influence for its own dignity and the glory of the 
country. 

The key note of the Kentucky patriot's aspiration and 
inspirations throughout all the troubles which precluded the 
rebellion, is fully and fitly sounded in a speech in Chicago 
late in 1859.* He most impressively implored a reliance on 
the Constitution and a love for the Union. He went to 
Chicago to forget that, a cloud of politics hung over the 
country, and would not allow himself to be dragged into 
political discussion. Party politics were very transitory 
affairs. We are made to regard them as of great impor- 
tance when to-morrow will bury them in oblivion. " I am 
at home here," he said, " though I came with very few ac- 
quaintances and friends in this part of the country ; yet the 
whole land is my country. The Union makes us one people : 
may God preserve that Union !" The impassioned earnest- 
ness of this invocation struck a chord in the vast assemblage, 
and the speaker was interrupted by loud applause. " Pre- 

bill honestly gives the whole thing, Southern clause and all, to the will of the 
people." April 13, the Senate insisted on its disagreement, and asked for a com- 
mittee of conference, by a vote of — yeas, 30 ; nays, 24 ; and the presiding officer 
pro tempore (Senator Foot of Vermont) appointed Messrs. Green, Hmter, and 
Seward as the committee on the part of the Senate. On the next day, Mr. 
Montgomery moved "that the House insist on their adherence," which, after 
an excited discussion, was negatived by 108 to 107, the Speaker voting in the 
negative. Mr. English, of Indiana, who, that morning, in caucus of Anti- 
Lecomptonites, had expressed his determination to accede to the Senate's re- 
quest, moved that " the House agree to the conference," which was passed by 
108 to 108, the Speaker voting in the affirmative. This result was received by 
the galleries with applause. The managers on the part of the House were 
Messrs. W. H. English of Indiana, A. H. Stephens of Georgia, and W. A. 
Howard, of Michigan. On the 2Cd, Senator Green reported in the Senate, and 
Mr. English, in the House, a substitute agreed to by the majority of the Com- 
mittee of Conference. This amendment was offered by Mr. English, and is 
now known as the "English Bill." On Friday, April 30, the bill passed both 
branches. In the House the vote stood— yeas, 112 ; nays 103. In the Senate- 
yeas, 31 ; nays, H.—Our Living Representative Hen, pp. 136-7. 
* At the National Agricultural Fair. 



156 LIFE A2TD PUBLIC SERVICES 

serve the Union," lie added, " and the Union will preserve 
you, and make you the mightiest people in the world !" 

In early life Mr. Crittenden was a Republican, and after- 
terward a Whig. At the period of which I write he was 
called an " American." He was a devoted friend of Henry 
Clay, on whose death he made one of his greatest efforts ; and 
his experience and eloquence always caught the car of the 
Senate, of which he was at times denominated the Patriarch. 

He was subsequently the motive power, the head and 
heart of the nucleus calling itself the " Constitutional Union 
party." After the expiration of his Senatorial term, Mr. 
Crittenden was returned to Congress as a Representative. 

The name of no American statesman had been more fa- 
miliar to the public ear for several years than that of Stephen 
A. Douglas. The opinions of none had been more eagerly 
listened to, more violently attacked, or more gallantly de- 
fended than those of " the Little Giant" of the West. The 
anxiety to hear him in the Halls of Congress was equaled 
only by the impatient desire of far-distant places to read 
what he had said. Newspapers of all shades of political 
opinion found it to their advantage not only to state his 
views, but to chronicle them in his own words : consequently, 
none of those who may be called his contemporaries, of 
whatever party, had such wide-spread publication. In the 
Democratic party, no one attracted so much attention in his 
day ; and in the Republican party, Senator Seward alone 
approached him in commanding the public eye and car. 
His career had been exceedingly brilliant — the romantic 
details of his youthful struggles very fitly prefacing the 
chivalric boldness of his manhood. His life was a splendid 
illustration of the developing influences of American insti- 
tutions ; and the memoirs of Stephen A. Douglas in some 
future day will nerve many an orphaned youth for the battle 
of life, and give him strength to combat and to conquer 
when engaged in it. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 157 

From early life a politician, he had developed into a wise, 
brave and unconquerable statesman. Having survived the 
visitation of ill health, and overcome the vicissitudes of ill- 
fortune in his youthful days, he arose step by step through 
numerous legal, judicial and legislative offices to the first 
place in the hearts and heads of the Democratic party, if not 
of the great majority of the people. At the time of which 
I write his name and fame were on every lip. This partly 
arose from the truthfulness of his views on the Slavery 
question in the Territories on the one hand, and the tre- 
mendous efforts made by President Buchanan, his Cabinet, 
and the Southern party to crush him on the other. As 
Chairman of the Committee on Territories, first in the House, 
and afterward in the Senate, Douglas had reported and 
carried through bills organizing the Territories of Minne- 
sota, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Kansas and 
Nebraska, and also the bills for the admission of the States 
of Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota and Oregon. He 
early took grounds touching the Slavery question in the 
organization of Territories and admission of States, and held 
that Congress should not interfere. He declared as its 
fundamental principle in the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854, 
that " it was the true intent and meaning of the act not to 
legislate slavery into any State or Territory, nor to exclude 
it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free 
to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own 
way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." 

Mr. Buchanan was elected President on this principle, but 
he had scarcely got his Administration into working order, 
if it can be said to have ever attained that point, before its 
power was directed to an invasion of this principle, by an 
attempt to force the people of Kansas to accept a constitu- 
tion they did not make. The Administration and the 
Southern political friends with whom Douglas had acted, 
united in this attempt. He, however, did not hesitate as to 



158 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

his duty, but struck a bold blow for popular rights. The 
contest spread all over the country. In it Douglas was sus- 
tained by the great mass of the North, and was denounced 
by the Democratic Administration, supported by a united 
South. He stood firmly by his position ; maintained it by 
argument in proof, and defied the consequences personal to 
himself. It was a great war between Douglas on the one 
side, and Buchanan and the Southern conclave on the other ; 
and in which the weapons wielded by the latter were jeal- 
ousy and personality, and by the former, principle and an 
energy that rivaled it in power. 

The debate in the Senate will long be remembered, The 
whole country was excited to a curiosity and anxiety without 
bounds. Nothing was talked of but " Kansas " and " Doug- 
las." The debate on "Lecompton" continued from the 1st 
to the 23d of March. The closing scenes were peculiarly 
interesting. By day and night the gallaries were crowded. 
Douglas' speech on the 22d was the climax of the debate, 
and the expectation that he would speak at the morning 
session filled the galleries, lobbies, stairways, ante-rooms 
and every avenue of the Capitol at an early hour. The 
crowd kept increasing, and the observed of all observers 
entered the Chamber immediately after a fainting lady had 
been carried out of the gallery, just after noon. The ex- 
pected speech was not delivered, but the crowd remained. 

At the evening session the scene presented in the Senate 
was one of the most brilliant and exciting ever witnessed. 
No sooner were the galleries cleared when the recess was 
taken, than the crowds who all the morning expected Doug- 
las would speak, and patiently awaited a chance to get in, 
filled up the seats. At five minutes after five the galleries 
were empty ; in five minutes more they were filled with a 
brilliant, fashionable, and intelligent array. In thejjentle- 
men's gallery the people were literally walking "on each 
other. They formed juiwpian pyramid reaching up to the 

— ••• • ■ ^. ^ . 

••..■v. 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 1 5 9 

windows, on the inside sills of which some persons were for- 
tunate enough to be lifted. For two hours the throngs of 
people were wedged together in expectancy of the great 
speech. Some ladies brought books, others their knitting, 
and thus, having secured seats early, industriously killed the 
time between 5 and 7 p. m. 

When the Chamber was called to order, Gwin and Sew- 
ard simultaneously arose with the same purpose — to move 
the admission of the ladies to the floor of the Senate. It 
"was agreed to. The doors were thrown open, and a perfect 
flood of beauty, bearing on the tide all manner of broken 
hoops and dragged crinoline, poured into the Chamber. In 
a few moments every spot was occupied, while on all the 
lobbies such discontent arose from the unaccommodated 
crowds of gentlemen and ladies there, that several times the 
Chair was called on to dispatch officers to allay the disorder. 

The appearance of Senator Douglas was the token for a 
round of applause. The sight must have been deeply grati- 
fying to him, as it was entrancing to that mother and daugh- 
ter- who, from the reporter's gallery, looked upon the scene 
with an anxiety and pleasure which might tell the physiog- 
nomist that they, of all the great and brilliant crowd, had the 
deepest and most exalted interest in it. 

For three hours Senator Douglas spoke. Commencing 
calmly, with an expression of doubt of his own physical 
strength to carry him through the duty before him, he 
warmed up by degrees, lifting the head and heart of the 
multitude with him, until one almost felt as if he were in 
Europe during the revolutions, listening to some powerful 
tribune of the people expounding their rights and inspiring 
them to such action as made America a republic. He went 
through his public course. The period embraced some of 
the most prominent and vital acts in the history of American 
politics. He showed — not as a defense, but in a proud, 

* Mrs. Douiilas and her mother. 



160 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

manly, and almost defiant spirit — what his acts had been ; 
he echoed his own words ; he was proud of his deeds — 
deeds and words which were recognized portions of the 
policy of the Democratic party. 

As lie proceeded, with emphatic and measured dignity, to 
define his position in the present crisis — what the duty of a 
Senator from a sovereign State was, and the responsibility 
he owed to the people whose voices culminated in him — he 
held the multitude chained with that peculiar eloquence 
which, based on common sense and the rights of man 
reaches its destination without the aid of winded rhetoric. 
Such eloquence does not dazzle, it convinces ; it does not 
stretch the fancy, but solidifies the head ; it does not hold 
the breath, but makes one breathe freer, for it cheers the 
heart. 

The great burst of applause which broke from the galle- 
ries and rolled over the Chamber was a nobler testimony to 
the principles enunciated by the eloquent Senator than 
might be written. He was there the defender of the people, 
the representative of a State, and not the vassal of the Ex- 
ecutive, nor the valet of the Administration, to do its bid- 
ding without consulting his own judgment or the interest of 
his people. He stood forth as the champion of State sover- 
eignty. This Union was not an empire or absolute mon- 
archy, in which States were but provinces without individual 
and distinct and different rights. It was a confederacy of 
nations, each one of which was equally represented in the 
Senate. 

As he exposed the fallacy of making the question a test 
with the Democracy, and claimed the right to vote against 
it, he, with admirable adroitness and force, asked if Brown 
of Mississippi, was read out of the party for differing with 
the neutrality policy of the Administration ? if Toombs 
was read out for opposing the Army bill ? if Mason would 
be expelled for not swallowing the Pacific Railroad ? Why, 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 162 

then, should he be expelled, read out, denounced, because he, 
like those Senators, thought for himself on an Administra- 
tion measure? The effect was electric, and was greatly 
indebted to the manner of the Senator. He grew in enthu-l 
siasm with the progress of his subject ; and up to the last 
sentence, in which he gracefully prayed the indulgence of 
the Senate to overlook the style of his argument, as his re- 
cent illness prevented it being more perfect and satisfactory 
to himself— up to the last word — the mass of people who 
heard him were not only patient, but delighted. It really 
was a study to behold the Administration leaders. 

The great contest with Abraham Lincoln, on which his 
seat in the Senate depended, next took place. In Illinois. 
in addition to the acknowledged ability of Mr. Lincoln, 
Douglas had the power of the Administration and the or- 
ganization of Government officials, which vindictively fol- 
lowed him, to encounter and overwhelm. It was an in- 
tensely exciting, hard fought* -and interesting canvass. It 
resulted in re-electing Douglas to the Senate and electing 
Lincoln to the Presidency ; for the Republicans having made 
Lincoln their standard-bearer in a contest with the great 
Democratic leader, brought his name prominently before the 
whole country. To have met Douglas at such a time was 
in itself reputation, and the Illinois contest was but ex- 
tended to the Republic, when his friends nominated the 
defeated Senatorial candidate for the higher office of Pres- 
ident. 

The hatred of the Administration to Douglas was used', 
most effectively by the conspirators, who beheld in the latter 

* In illustration of the arduous nature of the canvass, Judge Douglas himself 
told me that in four mouths he made one hundred and thirty speeches, all save 
three of which were in the open air. He spent most of the time in railroad 
cars and carriages, on an average going to bed but three times a week. Once 
during the canvass he was five days and nights without having his clothes off 
or going to bed. I have heard these details corroborated many times by persons 
who accompanied Douglas during the exciting period. 

11 



162 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

their most powerful enemy. The designs of both culminated 
in the disruption of the Charleston-Baltimore Convention, 
the secession of the chief Southern delegates from which but 
indicated the secession of the States from the Union a few 
months later. After a wonderful canvass, in which the whole 
question of Union vs. Disunion was elicited and discussed, 
Mr. Lincoln was elected President, and the action of South 
Carolina precipitated the Rebellion. r'Douglas, like many- 
others, at first had hopes that legislative action might avert 
war, but threw overboard all party feeling when the South- 
ern leaders fully developed their plans. - "] That he fully 
grasped both the terrors and duties of the occasion is shown 
by a conversation held on the 1st January, 1861, with Gen. 
C. B. Stewart of New York, who made a note of it. In 
reply to a query as to the results of the efforts of Davis and 
his associates to divide the Union, Douglas said : 

" The Cotton States are making an effort to draw in the Border 
States to their scheme of secession, and I am too fearful they will 
succeed. If they do succeed there will be the most remarkable civil 
war the world has ever seen, lasting for years. Virginia will become 
a charnel-house ; but the end will be the triumjih of the Union cause. 
One of their first efforts will be to take possession of the Capitol, to 
give prestige abroad ; but they will never succeed in taking it ; the 
North will rise en masse to defend it ; but it will become a city of 
hospitals ; the churches will be used for the sick and wounded, and 
even the Minnesota block (now the Douglas Hospital) may be de- 
voted to that purpose before the end of the war." 

His visitor asked, " What justification is there for all 
this ?" Douglas replied : 

" There is no justification, nor any pretense of any. If they will 
remain in the Union I will go as far as the Constitution will permit 
to maintain their just rights, and I do not doubt but a majority of 
Congress will do the same. But," said he, rising on his feet and 
extending his arm, " if the Southern States attempt to secede from 
the Union without further cause, I am in favor of their having just 
so many slaves and just so much slave territory as they can hold at 
the point of the bayonet, and no more." 






OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 163 

Even in minute details the indications here made were 
prophetic. After the fall of Fort Sumter, when "Washington 
city "was profoundly agitated, and the action of the Govern- 
ment looked to with feelings which cannot be described, the 
position of Douglas naturally created the widest anxiety and 
much discussion. At the solicitation of the Hon. George 
Ashmun, he visited President Lincoln at this gloomy hour 
of our national life, and cheered him with the characteristic 
intelligence and patriotism of his brave nature. Mr. Ashmun 
sketches the occasion with suggestive brevity : " It was 
almost dark when we started for the President's House. We 
fortunately found Mr. Lincoln alone, and upon my stating 
the errand on which we had come, he was most cordial in 
his welcome, and immediately prepared the way for the con- 
versation which followed, by taking from his drawer and 
reading to us the draft of the proclamation which he had 
decided to issue, and which was given to the country the 
next morning.* As soon as the reading ended, Mr. Douglas 
rose from his chair and said : ' Mr. President, I cordially 
concur in every word of that document, except that instead 
of a call for seventy-five thousand men I would make it two 
hundred thousand. You do not know the dishonest purposes 
of those men (the rebels) as well as I do.' And he then 
asked us to look with him at the map which hung at one end 
of the President's room, where, in much detail, he pointed 
out the principal strategic points which should be at once 
strengthened for the coming contest. Among the most 
prominent were Fortress Monroe, Washington, Harper's 
Ferry, and Cairo. He enlarged at length upon the firm, 
warlike footing which ought to be pursued, and found in Mr. 
Lincoln an earnest and gratified listener. It would be im- 
possible to give in detail all the points presented by him, 
and discussed with the President ; but I venture to say that 
no two men in the United States parted that night with a 

* The fir!-t proclamation, dated 15th April, 1S61. 



164 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

more cordial feeling of a united, friendly, and patriotic pur- 
pose than Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas." 

The last letter written by Douglas* impressed on his 
friends their duty to the country, irrespective of the Admin- 
istration that might be in power. The support of the Gov- 
ernment was not a party question, but one of country or no 
country. He was not the apologist of the errors of the Lin- 
coln Administration, but said he, and the words ought to be 
inscribed on his monument, " I trust the time will never come 
when I shall not be willing to make any needful sacrifice of 
personal feeling and party policy for the honor and integrity 
of my country." Douglas died when the whole loyal people 
had learned to love and to deeply rely upon him. 

Douglas and Crittenden, great, independent and cour- 
ageous statesmen, passed away after having proved that their 
influence for good expanded in potency the more violent the 
ordeal through which their patriotism was compelled. For- 
tunately the third of the trio of loyal Senators, pre-eminently 
distinguished by experience and ability, survived, and still 
survives to give his country the benefit of both. Before 
William H. Seward entered the Senate of the United States 
he had a career sufficient to sustain an enduring reputation. 
From his youth he had been conspicuous for independence 
of thought in action. As early as 1820, during the discus- 
sion which arose on the " Missouri question," and while yet 
under age, Mr. Seward began to discover, as he thought, an 
undue subserviency in the dominant party to Slavery, its 
interests and power. All the resources which great knowl- 
edge and continuous research have placed at his disposal 
since, but confirmed and extended those views, until his 
effect on public opinion is read in the results which sur- 
round us to-day in a regenerated Republic. As a lawyer, 
Mr. Seward eminently distinguished himself, his industry 
strengthening a peculiarly bold and original mind. Few 

* To Virgil Ilickox, Chairman Illinois State Committee. 



OF ANDBEW JOHNSON. 165 

lawyers could risk the declaration which Seward solemnly 
made in the famous Freeman case in 1846, "that before 
God and man, there was no single word which he had ever 
uttered ia any court of justice which he would wish recalled." 
As Governor of New York, his administration was fraught 
with importance, and many leading minds regard it as hav- 
ing been more influential in shaping the political issues 
which have since grown up in the country than any event 
of the last thirty years. "When he assumed office, at the 
age of thirty-seven — having defeated the veteran Marcy by 
more than ten thousand majority — a great monetary press- 
ure, immense undertakings just assumed by the State in the 
enlargement and extension of the public works, crowds of 
i applicants for office, always disagreeably numerous, but 
[ largely increased by the revulsion of trade, met him, and 
were sufficient to task a much older statesman. Brains, 
however, are equal to experience, and energy is the true test 
of usefulness whether in old or young. Governor Seward 
succeeded. Education, internal improvements, agriculture, 
the establishment and improvement of asylums, reforms in 
the courts, in the banking-laws and the militia system, the 
entire extinguishment of laws for imprisonment for debt, the 
settlement of the Anti-Rent troubles, the extension of politi- 
cal franchises to all classes of people, the encouragement of 
foreign emigration, and the repeal of several lingering stat- 
utes favoring slavery, as well as the enactment of new ones 
in opposition to it, were all subjects of attention. 

During his Administration an important controversy arose 
between Governor Seward and the Governors of Virginia 
and Georgia. From both of these States it was alleged 
that slaves had been abducted by colored seamen belonging 
to New York, and carried to free .States and set at liberty. 
The sailors charged with this offense against the laws of 
[Virginia and Georgia were demanded of Governor Seward 
on requisitions issued by the Executives of those States. 



166 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The abductors were arrested in the city of New York, to 
be taken to the State where the offense was committed, as 
soon as Governor Seward should grant the requisitions, 
but lie refused to give them up. In the correspondence 
which ensued, Governor Seward maintained that the crimes 
contemplated by the Constitution, in its provisions requir- 
ing the rendition of fugitives from justice, were not such as 
depended on the legislation of a particular State, but such 
as were determined by some common standard to be crimes 
— such as were mala in se. No State, he argued, could 
force a requisition on another State, founded on an act 
which was only criminal through its own legislation, but 
which, compared with general standards, was not only inno- 
cent, but humane and praiseworthy. A reference to the 
correspondence, as published in the works of Mr. Seward, 
will show the arguments adduced on both sides. This con- 
troversy attracted the attention not only of the Legislatures 
of the several States, but of the whole country, North and 
South. The Whig Legislature of New York sustained 
Governor Seward in the matter ; but upon the accession of 
the Democrats to power they passed resolutions denouncing 
his course, and requesting him to transmit the resolutions to 
the Governor of Virginia, which he declined to do. Vir- 
ginia, and other States in sympathy with her, threatened 
retaliatory measures, designed to injure the commerce of 
New York. But this produced no change in his decision. 

Governor Seward's course in the famous McLeod case 
exhibited his tenacity of purpose in a similar manner. Mc- 
Leod, a British Loyalist, charged with burning the American 
steamer Caroline during the Canadian Rebellion in 1837, 
was arrested and committed to jail in the State of New 
York to await his trial for the offense. The British Minis- 
ter alleging that the act was one of war, for which his 
Government should be held responsible, demanded the 
release of McLeod, and menaced hostilities in case of a re- 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS OK 167 

fusal. President Tyler's Administration — Webster being 
Secretary of State — urged Governor Seward to surrender 
the accused. Many friends also advised him to. the same 
course. But he resolutely resisted both the demand of the 
British Government, and the timid policy of Tyler. As 
the friend of freedom, Governor Seward has been eminently 
and humanely consistent, advocating the cause of the 
Greeks, the Hungarians, the Irish and other oppressed 
peoples, with the earnestness and eloquence which, in his 
own case, have survived all opposition. He lias ever been 
equally and nobly distinguished as the friend of the emi- 
grant. The enthusiasm which elevated General Taylor to 
the Presidency, also sent Governor Seward to the United 
States Senate. Although holding different views on many 
subjects, the ideas of Senator Seward and Andrew Johnson 
during the excitement of 1850 were almost in harmony, 
both disbelieving in the efficacy of compromises. The 
reader is acquainted with Johnson's declarations on this 
subject. Seward disagreed with Clay, Webster, Cass and 
others, as to the Union being then at stake, or that compro- 
mise measures were necessary to its preservation ; and 
predicted as the result of a yielding to the claims of the 
Compromise party, the very ills which it is believed have 
since been realized in the Kansas legislation. At this 
period it was that Senator Seward used the phrase " Higher 
Law," which, like his subsequent phrase of " Irrepressible 
Conflict," supplied politicians of all classes and degrees with 
ready inspiration for abuse or approval. At the same time 
he declared his deep-felt assurance that slavery must give 
way to the salutary instructions of economy and the ripen- 
ing influences of humanity ; that emancipation was inevit- 
able and near; that all measures which fortified slavery 
tended to the accomplishment of violence ; and all that 
checked its extension and abated its strength tended to its 
peaceful extirpation. Senator Seward was also the friend 



168 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



of the Homestead bill ; but differed from Senator Johnson 
on the subject of a Pacific Railroad. He proposed the re- 
organization of the United States Courts, acted with Doug- 
las against the "Lecompton" despotism of the Adminis- 
tration, and compared the Conference or "English bill" to 
Redheifer's perpetual motive power and Maelzel's automaton 
chess-player, as deceiving no person save those wishing to 
be deceived. 

Senator Seward's eloquence was at once positive and 
negative ; negative in a popular sense from the want of that 
clap-trap which delights by astonishing, and positive from 
the equable and strong current which carried an intelligent 
listener fully into the thoughts of the speaker. He gener- 
alized with fascinating effect ; and made in his speeches the 
best history of the measures which he either originated or 
supported. Whether people agreed with the principles or 
theory upon which his utterances were based or not, they 
could not deny — if in the attractiveness of his narrative they 
were permitted to think of — the consummate talent with 
which mere political details were overlooked, and the favor- 
ite view of the question presented in all the symmetry of a 
well-balanced, well-stored and self-contented intellect. All 
his great efforts showed that lie relied on history for his 
justification, and already he has lived to see the consumma- 
tion of his cherished views and principles. His faith was 
always strong; and true to the instincts and privileges of 
the thinker, he did not allow what many conceived to be 
party issues to trammel his deeds or his words. 

It is beyond the scope of this work to follow Senator 
Seward into the State Department. His eminent labors 
there will form a potent chapter in the eventful administra- 
tion of which he was the chief mainstay and counsellor. 

John Quincy Adams had a habit of always observing new 
members. He would sit near them on the occasion of their 
Congressional debut, closely eyeing and attentively listening 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 169 

if the speech pleased him, but quickly departing if it did 
not. When Jefferson Davis first arose in the House, in 
1845, the Ex-President took a seat close by. Davis pro- 
ceeded, and Adams did not move. The one continued speak- 
ing- and the other listening ; and those who knew Mr. 
Adams' habit were fully aware that the new member had 
deeply impressed him. At the close of the speech, " the old 
man eloquent" crossed over to some friends, and said, " That 
young man, gentlemen, is no ordinary man. He will make 
his mark yet, mind me." That Jefferson Davis achieved the 
distinction prophesied is undeniable ; that his talents were 
of a commanding order is equally incontrovertible, but that 
his chief mark has been written in the blood of hundreds of 
thousands of his fellow-citizens, and the use of his great abili- 
ties consummated in the most unjust and violent rebellion on 
the records of history are facts equally prominent ; and which 
can only increase in infamy with the progress of the Repub- 
lic out of the dread destiny into which the unhallowed am- 
bition of those he led and misguided would have devoted it. 
Educated at West Point, Davis had served with credit in 
the Black Hawk war — as did also Abraham Lincoln — and 
after leading a life of retirement for some years, was elected 
to a scat in Congress, which he soon resigned to lead a 
Mississippi regiment to the Mexican war. At the storming 
of Monterey, Colonel Davis greatly distinguished himself ; 
and at Buena Vista, although wounded, he remained in the 
saddle to the close of the fight. The special action for 
which he received eclat at Buena Vista, and which towards 
the close of the rebellion was alluded to by " Confederate" 
journals as giving him a military reputation he did not de- 
serve* was described by Caleb Cushing in a lecture at Bos- 

* According to the Richmond Examiner, the greatest misfortune to " the 
Confederacy" was, " that its first President was, or thought himself to be, a 
military man. If he had been some worthy planter, who never was either at 
West Point or Mexico, and had no special qualification save a manly, straight 
forward Southern spirit, theu he would have never thought himself competent 



170 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ton in 1858 as among the dramatic incidents of the battle. 
He says Davis there ventured to do that of which there is, 
perhaps, but one other example in the military history of 
modern times: and presents a striking parallel. "In the 
desperate conflicts of the Crimea," says Gushing, " at the 
battle of Inkerman — in one of those desperate charges, 
there was a British officer who ventured to receive the 
charge of the enemy without the precaution of having his 
men formed in a hollow square. They were drawn up in 
two lines, meeting at a point like an open fan, and received 
the charge of the Russians at the muzzle of their guns, and 
repelled it. Sir Colin Campbell, for this feat of arms 
among others, was selected as the man to retrieve the fallen 
fortunes of England in India. He did, however, but imitate, 
what Jefferson Davis had previously done in Mexico, avIio, 
in that trying hour, when, with one last desperate effort to 
break the lines of the American army, -the cavalry of Mexico 
was concentrated in one charge against the American line — 
then, I say, Jefferson Davis commanded his men to form in 
two lines, extended as I have shown, and received that 
charge of the Mexican horse with a plunging fire from the 
right and left of the Mississippi Rifles, which repelled — and 
repelled for the last time- — the charge of the hosts of Mexico." 
For this service Davis was familiarly known among his com- 
rades as " Buena Vista." 

His extreme States-rights views broke out in a remark- 
able manner while returning from Mexico. When at New 
Orleans he received from President Polk the commission of 
Brigadier-General of Volunteers, but declined the honor on 
the ground that it was an infringement on the rights of the 
States, the constitution reserving to the latter the appoint- 
to plan distant campaigns, or to interfere with generals in the field." But Mr. 
Davis studied war at West Point, and one day in Mexico he formed his regi- 
ment of two hundred and fifty men in the shape of a V, and, continues this 
Richmond critic, " we feel its evil effects to this day. If we are to perish, the 
verdict of posterity will be, ' Died of a V.' " 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 1 1 1 

merit of officers of State troops. He was almost immediately 
sent to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy, was subse- 
quently elected to the position, and as Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Military Affairs, and as a ready defender of the 
Slave States acquired prominence and became the mouth- 
piece of the " Slave-rights Democrats." At this time he won 
an unenviable notoriety by his advocacy of a repudiation of 
the Union Bank bonds of Mississippi. His course brought 
great disgrace on the character of the country, and he made 
a reply to the London Times which still more deeply illus- 
trated and enforced his repudiation doctrine.'" In 1850 he 
resigned his seat in the Senate to contest the Gubernatorial 
election with Henry S. Foote, and was defeated by the latter. 
This threw him into privacy, from which he emerged, in 1852, 
to advocate the claims of Franklin Pierce to the Presidency, 
on whose inauguration he was rewarded with a seat in the 
cabinet as Secretary of War. His administration of the 
War Department was highly esteemed for the introduction 
and extension of improvements and regulations, although in 
the latter and by other means he exhibited a continual de- 
sire to insult the veteran officer Winfield Scott. He was 
the advocate of generous appropriations for forts, improve- 
ments in small-arms, increase of pay for officers, pensions for 
their widows, the introduction of camels and the addition 
of several regiments to the regular army. There is no 
doubt, that during his administration, he did all in his 
power to attach the army officers to him on the one hand 
and to strengthen the power of the Slave-rights Demo- 
crats on the other. He was a ruling power in the Cabinet. 
Subsequently, the ex-Secretary declared, that had he fol- 
lowed his own desires he would not have gone into Pierce's 
Cabinet ; but the argument — used at Washington as well 

* First letler, dated 25th of May, 1S49, in Washington Uninn. Defence, 
dated at his residence, "Brierfield, Miss," August 29, 1849, published in the 
Jacksun Mi sissipian. 



172 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

as in Mississippi with him — that to decline, might be in- 
jurious to the States-rights party of the South, that is, that 
he could use the power at his disposal for the benefit 
of that party — prevailed. 

Having been re-elected to the United States Senate, the 
ex-Secretary moved — with but few months' intermission 
from the War Department into the Capitol. During this 
intermission, Senator Davis addressed several Southern 
audiences. His speech at Pass Christian embraced his 
views and policy. In it he claimed to be for the Union, 
but stated the belief that the " puritanical intolerance and 
violently unconstitutional character of the North would tear 
it asunder if a United South did not put it down. His 
great reliance was on a United South ;" and he dwelt on it 
fearful lest the " Know-Nothing-ism" which so raged at 
several prominent Southern cities would divide them. He 
earnestly deprecated interference by the citizens of one 
State with the rights of another State, and, though fully 
identified with the South in any emergency, could not con- 
template the possibility of disunion without deep emotion. 
He believed that some of his most endearing reminiscences 
had grown out of his connection with the Federal Govern- 
ment ; and, dwelling on them, told his hearers, that while 
yet a boy, he had been called to duty in its military service, 
where he remained up to mature manhood. He had seen 
its flag wave its graceful folds in the peaceful civic pageant, 
and had witnessed it borne aloft in the clash and cannon- 
clouds of the deadly conflict ; he had seen it in the East, 
brightened by the sun at its rising, and in the West, gilded 
by his declining but golden rays ; and to see that flag sun- 
dered, to see one star torn from its azure field would, he 
felt, imbue him with a sorrow such as only a parent feels 
for a lost and beloved child. These sentiments drew down 
prolonged applause. But lest they might be mistaken 
or too forcibly indicate a too one-sided devotion to the 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 1*3 

Union and the flag, he took an opportunity of striking a 
balance between dissolution and submission ; by declaring 
he was as much opposed " to the brainless intemperance of 
those who desired a dissolution of the Union/' as to the 
slavish submission of those who, like the victims of Jugger- 
naut, unresistingly prostrated themselves to be crushed. 

Senator Davis was in favor of annexing Cuba ; of Ameri- 
canizing the continent ; of free trade, and the abolition 
of Custom Houses ; of a Pacific Railroad ; and though he 
made no set speeches during the great " Lecompton " dis- 
cussion, he appeared in the Senate Chamber propped up 
witli pillows, and with bandaged-eyes, to vote against 
Douglas, and for what Henry A. Wise justly termed " a 
schedule of legerdemain." 

During the recess, Senator Davis visited the ISTorth, where 
he was received with great courtesy and hospitality. He 
went there as an invalid, and known chiefly, as he remarked 
in Maine, " by the detraction which the ardent advocacy of 
the rights of the South had brought upon him." He did 
not deem his going or coming would attract attention ; but 
he was mistaken. " The polite, the manly, the elevated 
men, lifted above the barbarism which makes stranger and 
enemy convertible terms, had chosen, without political dis- 
tinction, to welcome his coming, and, by constant acts of 
generous hospitality, to make his sojourn as pleasant as his 
physical condition would permit." In the speech of which 
this is the opening sentence, Senator Davis denied that his 
friends and himself were Disunionists and Nullifiers. He 
visited Massachusetts and New York, and his addresses to 
the people of the chief cities in those States, attracted a 
great deal of attention. They were characterized by a 
decided modification of sentiment, and an equally temper- 
ate mode of expression ; leaning much more to the 
popular sovereignty views of Douglas, than to the slave 
code system for the Territories advocated by his ultra 



1 U LIFE A2W P TTBLIG SER VICES 

Southern friends. Whether the state of his health was 
not favorable to the consideration of violent views, or the 
atmosphere of Northern Democracy was too strong for him, 
or Northern hospitality had subdued him to rationality, or 
that he was on a Presidential canvass amid the great cities 
of the Republic which had been built by the enterprise of 
free " mudsills," or whether it was all four combined that 
influenced his thoughts and speech it is difficult to say ; 
but both were so different from the manner of his " ardent 
advocacy of the rights of the South," that they were the 
subject of general comment North ; and he had to explain 
them when he went South. In a letter apologizing for his 
absence from the Webster Birthday Festival, held in Bos- 
ton, January, 1859, Senator Davis said : 

" May the vows of 'love and allegiance' which you purpose to 
renew as a fitting tribute to the memory of the illustrious statesman 
whose birth you commemorate, find an echo in the heart of every 
patriot in our land, and tend to the revival of that fraternity which 
bore our fathers through the Revolution to the consummation of the 
independence they transmitted to us, and the establishment of the 
more perfect Union which their wisdom devised to bless their pos- 
terity for ever ! 

" Though deprived of the pleasure of mingling my affectionate 
memories and aspirations with yours, I send you my cordial greet- 
ing to the friends of the Constitution, and ask to be enrolled among 
those whose mission is, by fraternity and good faith to every consti- 
tutional obligation, to insure that, from Aroostook to San Diego, 
from Key West to Puget's Sound, the grand arch of our political 
temple shall stand unshaken 1" 

Six months later, addressing a State Convention in Mis- 
sissippi/ho found a more suitable occasion for the expres- 
sion of his views in furtherance of the conspiracy which 
was boldly but cautiously maturing. Ho made Mr. Sew- 
ard's famous Rochester speech of the autumn previous, the 
inspiration of his rebellious queries and declarations — 
which speech, be it remembered, was before him when he 
wrote such solicitous sentences to the Webstcrians of Bos- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 1 75 

ton. Taking up the " Irrepressible Conflict " theme, he put 
the question to his Mississippians : 

" "Will you allow the Constitutional Union to be changed into the 
despotism of a majority ? Will you become the subject of a hostile 
Government ? or will you, outside of the Union, assert the equality, 
the liberty and sovereignty to which you were born ? For myself, 
I say, as I said on a former occasion, in the contingency of the elec- 
tion of a President on the platform of Mr. Seward's Rochester 
speech, let the Union be dissolved. Let the ' great, but not the 
greatest, evil,' come ; for, as did the great and good Calhoun, from 
whom is drawn that expression of value, I love and venerate the 
Union of these States, but I love liberty and Mississippi more." 

Throughout the period of which I have been dealing in 
the latter preceding chapters, Davis was eminently distin- 
guished. He held the same relative position to the South 
that Douglas did to the North, but their claims were based 
on very different foundations. He was the acknowledged 
Congressional leader of nearly all the Southern Senators 
and Representatives. Andrew Johnson stood alone in com- 
plete independence of vassalage to the conspirators and 
their leader. Crittenden could not be carried away with 
their disruptive schemes. He belonged to the old Clay 
school, and with few exceptions, his noble utterances were 
permitted to pass by without malignant comment. Houston 
also could not be robbed of his reputation. It was different 
in the case of Johnson ; at least thev thought so. His 
activity was feared, his popular ideas hated, and both 
brought him under the constant fire of the conspirators. 
Bell was not fractal >le in the traces of the Southern phalanx. 
Toombs would break them betimes, as would Brown ; but 
witli the body of Southern Congressional agitators Jefferson 
Davis was regarded as the leader. Taken altogether he 
had the greatest qualifications for the post, as he combined 
in a larger degree than any other the characteristics which 
were distributed throughout his principal colleagues. Ham- 
mond, of South Carolina, had a more graceful intellect, and 



176 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

was a bolder thinker. Hunter, a more persistent student, 
was in the minds of many, an abler man ; and a much 
greater favorite with Northern Democrats. He was, how- 
ever, sluggish and unattractive. Mason the heir of several 

' CO 

Virginia reputations, was pompous and oracular to a degree 
amounting to burlesque. Toombs was bellicose and unbal- 
anced, and so passionate in what he conceived to be right 
that he was uncontrollable ; Iverson was inflammable and 
unequal ; C. C. Clay was self-opinionated, narrow-minded 
and vindictive : A. G. Brown exactly the reverse, was 
open-minded, a clear thinker, full of popular sympathies, 
and consequently dangerous to meddle with ; Fitzpatrick 
was easy-going and respectable ; Slidell's leading talent 
was astuteness ; and that of Benjamin a wicked gift of 
speech, which, like flowering branches before a masked 
battery, hid treachery and remorseless deceit ; Wigfall 
was violent, sometimes descending to vulgarity, and some- 
times touching the heart with sentiment. Davis was singu- 
larly fitted to control if not to combine these conflicting 
elements. He was free from taint as a peculator, and had 
a self-contained ambition which, amounting to callousness 
regarding the actions of men on his own side, was mis- 
taken for calmness ; and assumed a solemnity of reply to the 
opposition, which carried in its manner the intimation that 
when he spoke nothing further need be said. He was 
known as cold, proud, unforgiving ; qualities which in con- 
junction with great talents and knowledge, while they 
repelled the free and easy politicians, indicated him as a 
leader who need not be all things to all men, but who would 
check the familiarity of those nearest to him, and whose 
ostensible impartiality would command the respect of the 
masses. Notoriously of a despotic cast of mind, he was 
little given to the melting mood of even remotely extend- 
ing forgiveness, or acknowledging the possibility of a cause 
for soliciting it. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON". m 

When he arose in the Chamber, he invariably commanded 
attention. He was not hazardous in debate ; consequently 
when he spoke the conclusion was that he knew what he 
spoke about. Of easy manner, there was a precision in his 
phraseology which gave a vigor and force to his speeches 
that accorded well with the military character of the 
speaker. His language, as well as his manner, was orderly 
rather than ornate. 



12 



CHAPTER X. 

The Presidential Conventions of 1860 — Their Nominations and Platforms — 
Bell, Everett, and the Constitution and the Laws — Lincoln, Hamlin, and 
Intervention — Douglas, H. V, Johnson, and Non-intervention — Breckin- 
ridge, Lane, and Slave Protection — The Disruption in the Democratic 
Convention — Two Seceders' Conventions — The First Step toward Practical 
Disunion — Delay of Breckinridge to accept the Richmond Nomination — 
Calls for his Letter — Its Character — Causes of the Democratic Disruptions 
— The Plots of Disunionists under Yancey, and Buchanan's Hatred of 
Douglas. 

A number of delegates from twenty States, representing 
what tliey called the " Constitutional Union Party," met at 
Baltimore, on the 9th of May, 1860, and nominated John 
Bell of Tennessee, for the Presidency, and Edward Everett 
of Massachusetts, for the Vice-Presidency. This conven- 
tion put forth no platform of party principles, believing ex- 
perience had demonstrated that such tend to mislead and 
deceive the people. Their faith was set forth in a resolution 
recognizing no political principle other than the Constitu- 
tion of the country, the union of the States, and the enforce- 
ment of the laws. 

Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was nominated May 18, 
1860, for the Presidency, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, 
for the Vice-Presidency, by the convention which met at 
Chicago, on the 15th instant. Mr. Lincoln was put in nomi- 
nation by the Republican party, and he presented in his 
life and opinions the precise aim and object for which that 
party had been formed. He was a native of a slaveholding 
State, and, while he had been opposed to slavery, he had 
regarded it as a local institution, the creature of local laws, 

(178) 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON: 179 

with which the national Government of the United States 
had nothing whatever to do. But in common with all ob- 
servant public men, he had watched, with distrust and ap- 
prehension, the advance of slavery as an element of political 
power towards ascendancy in the Government of the na- 
tion, and had cordially co-operated with those who thought 
it absolutely necessary for the future well-being of the 
country that this tendency should be checked. He had, 
therefore, opposed very strenuously the extension of slavery 
into the territories, and had asserted the right and duty of 
Congress to exclude it by positive legislation therefrom. 
The Chicago Convention, which nominated Mr. Lincoln, 
adopted a platform of which this was the cardinal feature ; 
but it also took care to remove the apprehensions of the 
South that the party proposed to interfere with slavery in 
the States whose laws gave it support and protection. It 
expressly disavowed all authority and all wish for such in- 
terference, and declared its purpose to protect Southern 
States in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional 
rights.* 

The Democratic Convention winch re-assembled at Balti- 
more one month later, presented a continuation of the 
scenes which took place at Charleston, and exhibited still 
further the machinations of the Southern Democrats to 
treat the Northern Democrats as Sepoys. Delegates from 
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Delaware, 
Kentucky, Missouri and Massachusetts, as well as the Presi- 
dent of the Convention, Hon. Caleb dishing, withdrew. 
Governor Tod of Ohio, was appointed in his place, and the 
Convention nominated Stephen A. Douglas for the Presi- 
dency, and Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama, for the Vice- 
iPresidency. The latter, owing to the Southern pressure on 
hini, declined the nomination, and Herschell V. Johnson, 
of Georgia, was put in his place by the National Committee. 

* " History of the Administration of Abraham Lincoln," by H. J. Raymond. 



180 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The platform of the National Democratic Convention re-af- 
firmed the principles declared by the Cincinnati Conven- 
tion of 1856, which, as regarded the great questions of the 
day, were based on Douglas' doctrine of non-intervention. 
It added a resolution in effect that the decisions of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States on the constitutional re- 
strictions, whatever they may be, on Territorial Legisla- 
tures, should be respected by all good citizens and enforced 
by the Government. 

The seceders from the regular Democratic Convention 
met at the Maryland Institute, Baltimore, on the 28th of 
June. They increased their numbers by admitting persons 
not elected delegates, but who happened to be in the city as 
visitors ; to give the meeting an air of regularity, the} 1- chose 
Mr. Cushing as their presiding officer, and after going 
through certain formalities, nominated John C. Breckin- 
ridge for the Presidency, and Joseph Lane for the Vice- 
Presidency. The platform of this seceding faction also re- 
affirmed the Cincinnati resolutions, and added others de- 
claring the rights of slavery in the Territories as paramount 
to either congressional or territorial legislation, and also 
that it was the duty of the Federal Government to protect 
slavery in the Territories. 

The candidates, then, stood before the people thus : 

Lincoln was for the direct intervention of Congress to 
prohibit slavery in the Territories. 

Douglas was for the non-intervention of Congress, and 
for leaving the protection or prohibition of slavery in the 
hands of the Territorial Legislature. 

Breckinridge was equally opposed to the intervention of 
Congress or the legislation of the Territory on the subject 
of slavery, believing it the duty of the Government to pro- 
tect it. 

The seceders from the Charleston Convention had met at 
St. Andrew's Hall, in that city, where they received a visit 



OF ANDItE W JOHNSON. 1 8 1 

of sympathy from a portion of the Now York delegation, 
headed by Fernando Wood, chose James A. Bayard, of Del- 
aware, Chairman, and after adopting a " Southern rights " 
platform, and remaining in session four days, adjourned to meet 
Richmond, Ya., on the second Monday in June. In pursuance 
of this arrangement, these seccders met in Richmond on the 
11 th of June. Delegates were present from Alabama, Arkan- 
sas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, 
Florida, second congressional district of Tennessee, and the 
seventh electoral district of Virginia. John Erwin, of Ala- 
bama, was chosen President. It adjourned on the 12th to the 
21st. It met again and adjourned, and so continued to meet 
and adjourn, watching and waiting the action of the regular 
Convention at Baltimore, until the seceders from the latter 
nominated Breckinridge and Lane, when such of the dele- 
gates as had not gone to Baltimore adopted the candidates 
and platform of the " Bolters," and adjourned. 

Thus was the first decided step towards practical disunion 
effected. The conspirators had loudly declared that the 
election of Mr. Lincoln would be regarded as cause for se- 
cession ; and yet, while so declaring, they rendered the 
Democracy powerless to defeat him. Hence Breckinridge 
and Lane were emphatically disunion candidates. This fact 
was widely recognized, and for several weeks no official 
declaration was made as to whether Breckinridge and Lane 
had accepted their nomination by the Richmond Convention.* 

* The Washington States and Union, the central organ of the Douglas or 
Popular Sovereignty Democracy, as late as Augusts, had the following squib on 
the subject : 

"What has become of the Richmond Convention which nominated the Van- 
cey-Hreckinridge ticket? Are they never going to inform Messrs. Breckin- 
ridge and Lane of their nomination?" — Every Paper. 



" Oh, where is the Richmond Convention? 

And where have the delegates gone? 
Have they humbugged the passionate Joseph, 

Or been humbugged by passionless John ? 



182 LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

This fact elicited wide discussion, both the convention 
and the nominees being called on for an explanation. It 
was not until the 11th of August that Mr. Breckinridge's 
letter of acceptance appeared ; and as if to set his seal of 
approval upon the disunion faction that met at the Virginia 
capital, he declared he would " strive to merit the confidence 
implied by the action of the convention." The letter, which 
was dated a month after that informing him of his nomi- 
nation, showed he was fully aware of the odium that would 
attend his acceptance on the one hand, and on the other that 
his personal ambition was powerless to resist the surveil- 
lance of Yancey, Jefferson Davis, Slidell and the managers 
who set him up only as a stepping stone for their own pur- 

ii. 

" Are they waiting to still get a quorum? 

Have they vamosed to corners unknown ? 
And given their mouths to the Jorum, 

Which were made for disunion alone? 

in. 

" Did ever they make nominations ? 

Where are they ? Can any one tell ? 
Have they stuck up the Kentucky major, 

Or stuck down themselves for John Bell ? 

IV. 

" Were the candidates ever informed, 

In the sweetest of letters, that they 
Were the demons selected to plunder 

The peace of the nation away? 



"If they were — did they ever make answer? 

Will any or some one explain ? 
Some disunion delegate tell us ? 

Oh, Breckinridge tell us, or Lane? 

VI. 

" It is far worse than mean — it is wicked— 

To hide your acceptances twain 
Of the " National Disunion ticket." 

Oh, Breckinridge give it, and Lane. 

VII. 

"Or must we still cry— the Convention 

And the delegates', where have they gone? 

Have they humbugged the passionate Joseph, 

Or been humbugged by passionless John ?" 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 183 

poses. He thought to use them, but the current of circum- 
stances they used him to unloose was too strong for him, 
and swept him and them finally into infamy. 

Two things caused, the secession from the Democratic 
Convention at Charleston and Baltimore. The prime cause 
was an attempt to bring about disunion. Yancey, Rhett, 
Jeff. Davis and others had long tried to fire the Southern 
heart to the point of severing the connection between the 
Northern and Southern States. An attempt was made to 
produce the desired dissolution when the John Brown inva- 
sion occurred. An effort was made throughout the whole 
South to have each of the States call a convention to meet 
at Atlanta, Ga., to take steps to go out of the Union. 
Atlanta was fixed on as the capital of the Southern Confed- 
eral. The State of South Carolina sent Mr. Memminger 
to Richmond to induce the Governor of Virginia, and the 
Legislature of that State, then in session, to make the call 
and head the list. Virginia, however, refused to take the 
step. It had become apparent that the Harper's Ferry in- 
vasion was only a raid by a few mad caps and negro fanatics, 
and was not supported or sympathized in hy the mass of the 
Northern people. The thing was too ridiculous to base upon 
it such action as the dissolving of the Union ; and so it failed 
of success — much to the chagrin and disappointment of the 
disunionists at the South. 

These disunionists, with Yancey at their head, had long 
been plotting the overthrow of the Government. They 
failed to turn John Brown's raid to immediate account, but 
they had other schemes on hand far more potent, as the 
condition of affairs following the disruption of the Demo- 
cratic Convention fully indicated. For three years Mr. 
Yancey had been organizing lodges of the " League of 
Union Southerners," whose watchword was, " A Southern 
republic is our only safety." These Leagues had spread 
far and wide, and the members were all pledged to bring 



184 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

about a dissolution at the earliest moment. Their most ef- 
fectual plan to produce disunion was to divide the Demo- 
cratic party, and thereby secure the election of a Republican 
to the Presidency, in the oft-expressed certainty that such 
a cause could not fail to produce the desired secession of the 
Southern States. This scheme was distinctly foreshadowed 
by Mr. Yancey, in a speech in South Carolina in 1858, in 
which he stated it was the duty of the South, in the 
Charleston Convention, to demand the identical protection 
plank in the platform which he did demand, and that a re- 
fusal to adopt it should be followed by a secession of the 
Southern delegates ; that such a course would probably 
cause the election of a Republican to the Presidency, when 
the South must go out of the Union. 

The other cause for the secession was the opposition of 
the Administration to Douglas. When Mr. Buchanan de- 
termined, under the pressure of the South, to advocate the 
acceptance by Congress of the Lecompton Constitution, he 
was in a quandary. It was a desperate adventure, and he 
needed all the help that was to be had. "When Douglas re- 
fused to assist him in that measure, he turned upon him vin- 
dictively, and henceforward waged a most relentless war on 
him and his friends. 

Not only did Mr. Buchanan pursue his victim with rage, 
to the distraction of the party which placed him in power, 
but to the imminent peril of the country over which he pre- 
sided. It was stated at that time that but for the encour- 
agement of the Administration, no State would have 
seceded at Charleston except Alabama. But for the con- 
tinued labors of the Administration to that end, no further 
secession would have taken place at Baltimore. The Ad- 
ministration desired to kill off Douglas effectually and 
for ever. It was well known at Charleston that he could 
not have been nominated against the wishes of the South. 
It was also well known at Baltimore, before the second se- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSOW. 185 

cession took place, that Douglas had given instruction to 
withdraw his name to restore harmony. But this was not 
enough. He would still have been recognized as a member 
of the Democratic party. Some one would have been nomi- 
nated on a non-intervention platform, and he would have 
been elected without excluding Mr. Douglas from the party 
ranks. This could not be endured. Nothing short of a to- 
tal destruction would gratify the insatiate vengeance of those 
who pursued him with undying malice. Either Douglas 
and his friends must be crushed out past all recognition, 
or the party must fall in one common ruin, even if the 
country fell in the catastrophe. 

Such was the policy of Mr. Buchanan towards Mr. 
Douglas, and this was the other cause of the secession at 
Charleston and Baltimore. 



CHAPTEK XI. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF DISUNION. 

The Presidential Campaign — Wm. L. Yancey and his Labors — ■ Welcomes the 
Montgomery Convention — The Scarlet Letter — Outlines the Plan of the 
Conspirators — Replies to "The States," "The Great Southern Party," the 
Members pledged to Disuniou — Its Design — Indication of Southern Deter- 
mination to rebel — " The Spirit of the South," Mobile " Mercury," Charles- 
ton "Mercury," Barnwell Rhett — Judge Benning — Governor Potter — 
Governor Gist — Jeff. Davis — L. W. Spratt — L. M. Keitt — Porcher Miles 

— Pugh of Alabama — Governor Perry — M. L. Bonham — Herschell V. John- 
son explains why Buchanan persecuted Douglas — Robert J. Walker, Gov- 
ernor of Kansas — Buchanan, Douglas and Walker agree on a Kansas Policy 

— Buchanan breaks Faith — The Cry of Popular Sovereignty against Doug- 
las a Pretext — The Democratic Convention broken and Disunion Inaugu- 
rated by Sectional Ambition and Personal Enmity. 

The Presidential campaign was one of great excitement, 
bitterness, boldness, power and brilliancy. The excitement 
was general, the bitterness and boldness chiefly confined to 
the strife between the Union Democracy and the wing nom- 
inally led by Breckinridge, but actually inspired by Mr. 
William L. Yancey and guided by Jefferson Davis, and the 
brilliancy and power mainly centered around Douglas. The 
dashing vigor displayed in his Southern tour, his reception 
there, and the enthusiasm which lit up the Northern Democ- 
racy in his favor, at times led people to hope almost against 
hope. But the disruption in the Democratic ranks was too 
wide spread, and in the South, the work of too many years 
to be overcome by such power as might be compressed into 
a few months. 

The Southern consj iracy had been developing itself for 

(186) 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 1 8 7 

some time ; but the threats of the leaders were regarded as 
" sound and fury signifying nothing" more. Many, like An- 
drew Johnson, in the deep devotion of their own hearts to 
the Union had no fear of its safety, and could not conceive 
how any sane man or set of men could dare to compass its 
destruction. The declared Disunionists and advocates of the 
opening of the slave trade were underrated. They were re- 
garded as more eccentric than earnest, or more contemptible 
than discontented. I have said that to their persistent 
efforts, and the influences of the Buchanan Administration, 
was entirely due the surging commotion in which the coun- 
try rocked after the disruption of the Democratic party. 

It is not sought to be denied that the state of affairs was 
the result of deep machinations and great labor on the part 
of the avowed Disunionists. These fanatics constantly, or on 
every occasion they deemed their personal vanity wounded 
by the common sense of the people, threatened disunion, and 
the North only treated them with pleasantry or silent con- 
tempt. They, however, kept on preaching their views into 
rash and discontented minds. While relying on Northern 
Democrats to carry their legislative measures, these ungrate- 
ful and restless propagandists were inculcating disaffection 
against the lohole North, and sneering at Northern Demo- 
crats as no better than " Abolitionists.'' It was no later 
than the previous session of Congress that Senator Iverson, 
of Georgia, made a turbulent speech against the Northern 
Democrats, charging them with being unfavorable to South- 
ern interests, when they had been in fact their leading guar- 
dians. The Disunionists pursued their discontented ways — ■ 
kept on insinuating with a boldness apparently more ingen- 
uous than ingenious, but which was actually the reverse — 
their vile and desperate doctrines all over the extreme South, 
in some instances captivating a reckless and ruthless spirit 
here and there in the border States. Secret societies, 
" Southern Leagues" and orders were created, and now and 



1 8 8 LIFE AND P UBLIG SER VICES 

then this seething cauldron of treason boiled over on the 
floor of Congress, on some Southern " stump/ 7 or through the 
journals of the Disunionists. 

William L. Yancey, of Alabama, was the principal, or at 
least the most relentless and persistent of the conspirators. 
His record teems with treason ; and he meant what he said. 
On extending a welcome to those who attended the Southern 
convention in Montgomery, Ala., in May, 1858, Mr. Yancey 
said : 

" I must be allowed, at least ou my own behalf, to welcome you, 
too, as but the foreshadowing of that far more important body ; im- 
portant as you evidently will be, that if injustice and wrong shall 
continue to rule the hour and councils of the dominant section of the 
country, must, ere long, assemble upon Southern soil for the purpose 
of devising some measure by which not only your industrial, but 
your social and political relations shall be placed upon the basis of 
an independent sovereignty, which will have within itself a unity of 
climate, a unity of soil, a unity of production, and a unity of social 
relations ; that unity which alone can be the basis of a successful and 
permanent government." 

This he followed up with the Scarlet letter, explaining 
how the cotton States might be precipitated into revolution : 

"Montgomery, June 15, 1858. 

" Dear Sir— Your kind favor of the 15th is received. 

" I hardly agree with you that a general movement can be made 
that will clear out the Augean stable. If the Democracy were over- 
thrown, it would result in giving place to a greater and hungrier 
swarm of flies. 

" The remedy of the South is not in such a process ; it is in a dili- 
gent organization of her true men for prompt resistance to the next 
aggression. It must come in the nature of things. No national party 
can save us ; no sectional party can ever do it ; but if we could do 
as our fathers did, organize committees of safety all over the cotton 
States — and it is only in them that we can hope for an effective 
movement — we shall fire the Southern heart, instruct the Southern 
mind, give courage to each other, and at the proper moment, by one 
organized, concerted action, we can precipitate the cotton States into 
a revolution. 

" The idea has been shadowed forth in the South by Mr. Ruffin, 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 1 89 

and has been taken up and recommended by the Advertiser [the 
Montgomery organ of Mr. Yancey] under the name of ' The League 
of United Southerners,' who, keeping up their old party relations on 
all other questions, will hold the Southern issues paramount, and 
will influence parties, legislatures and statesmen. I have no time to 
enlarge, but to suggest merely. In haste, yours, etc. 

" To Jas. S. Slaughter, Esq." * W. L. YANCEY. 

On the 18 th July, 1859, Mr. Yancey made a speech at 
Columbia, S. C, to fire the Southern heart, and outlined the 
plan which events proved to have been adopted by the con- 
spirators : 

" To obtain the aid of the Democracy in this contest, it is necessary 
to make a contest in the Charleston Convention. In that body, 
Douglas' adherents will press his doctrine to a decision. If the 
State-rights men keep out of that convention, that decision must 
inevitably be against the South, and that, either in direct favor of 
the Douglas doctrine, or by the indorsement of the Cincinnati plat- 
form, under which Douglas claims shelter for his principles. The 
State-rights men should present in that convention their demand for 
a decision, and they will obtain an indorsement of their demands, or 
a denial of these demands. If indorsed, we shall have greater hope 
of triumph within the Union. If denied, in my opinion, the State- 
rights wing should secede from the convention, and appeal to the 
whole people of the South without distinction of parties, and organ- 
ize another convention upon the basis of their principles, and to go 
into the election with a candidate nominated by it, as a grand con- 
stitutional party. But in the Presidential contest a Black Republi- 
can may be elected. 

" If this dire event should happen, in my opinion, the only hope 
of safety for the South is a withdrawal from the Union before he 
shall be inaugurated, and the sword and the treasury of the Federal 
Government shall be placed in the keeping of that party. I would 
suggest that the several State Legislatures should by law require thebr 
governments, when it shall be made manifest that the Black Repub- 
lican candidate for the Presidency shall receive a majority of the 

* It is a coincidence worthy of remark, that the recipient of this noted epis- 
tle, and the person held up for his imitation, both committed suicide. Mr. 
Slaughter died by his own hand, while " in a fit of melancholy" before the fall 
of Sumter ; and old Mr. Ruffiu, who fired the first gun at the fort, fired the last 
at the head of a traitor after the fall of the rebellion and killed himself, let us 
charitably hope, in a fit of remorse. 



190 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Electoral votes, to call a convention of the people of the State to as- 
semble in ample time to provide for their safety before the 4th of 
March, 1861. If, however, a Black Republican should not be elected, 
then, in pursuance of the policy of making this contest within the 
Union, we should initiate measures in Congress which should lead to 
a repeal of all the unconstitutional acts against slavery. If we should 
fail to obtain so just a system of legislation, then the South should 
seek her independence out of the Union." 

This plainly stated programme needs no comment. A 
great deal of attention was directed to Mr. Yancey as the 
most daring propagandist of the Disunionists. He seemed 
to be ubiquitous and overflowing. His pen rivaled his 
tongue. None dqubted his ability any more than his dis- 
union doctrines, but the expression of the latter made the 
former fiendish. In August, 1860, he made a four-hours' 
speech at Memphis, in which he replied to the exposition 
of his disunion league societies made in the Washington 
States. But almost in the very breath in which he declared 
the writer in The States to have manufactured a lie in stating 
he (Yancey) was forming leagues, he admitted that he had 
formed a league in Montgomery which was frowned down 
by the Democracy in 1858. It was not usual with him to 
deny any charges of disunion ; but he sought to ignore the 
league on a verbal quibble, as it proved distasteful to the 
Democrats, and he had in this exigency formed what was 
called " The Great Southern party," a continuation of the 
league on a grander scale. 

This new society had a formidable preamble, which after 
stating that the dismemberment of the existing Union was 
inevitable, pledged the members to do all they could to 
achieve it. If possible, they would peaceably and " honor- 
ably" sever " the Southern slave States from the Northern 
free States." and would " ask for nothing more nor receive 
any thing less than an equal division of all the territories, 
immunities, rights, privileges, obligations, treaties, etc., now 
claimed or enjoyed by the United States." This society 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 191 

was designed not only to effect a revolution but to act as a 
provisional government in case of success : its constitution 
provided for a president and a governor in each State. 
White Southern citizens, or residents of eighteen years old, 
were eligible to membership. 

The Spirit of the South, March, 1859, arguing that there 
were fundamental differences of opinion between the North 
and the South, says : " What remains, then, but to do that 
which has been done in all ages and countries, by sensible 
and right-minded people, who have the misfortune to differ 
irreconcilably — to separate." 

The Mobile Mercury, about the same time, cautioned its 
friends in the country everywhere " to be prepared for it 
(a Southern organization), and keep themselves from all 
entangling alliances which may hinder them from joining in 
it untrammeled." 

The Charleston Mercury, a month later, sounded the 
tocsin with a bolder emphasis. It cried : " A revolution is, 
therefore, inevitable. Submission or resistance will alike 
establish it. The old Union — the Union of the Constitution, 
of equal rights between sovereign States — is abolished. It 
is gone for ever ; strangled by consolidation, and now the 
instrument of centralism, to establish an irresponsible 
despotism of the North over the South. To break up the 
present Union and establish another of the South alone, is 
no greater revolution than that which now exists. It will 
be a lesser change. Let the struggle come when it may, 
the South to achieve her safety, will have to trample down 
a Union party in the track of her political emancipation." 

Barnewell Rhett of South Carolina, for years the guiding 
spirit of the Mercury, and scarcely less notorious for the 
cxprc<.<ion of disunion sentiments than Yancey, speaking of 
the course of action, believed that " all true statesmenship in 
the South consists in forming combinations and shaping 
events so as to bring about a dissolution of the present 



192 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Union, and the establishment of a Southern confederacy." 
Apostrophising the future, he implores the South to remem- 
ber that — " In my latter years I did all I could to dissolve 
her connection with the North, and to establish for her a 
Southern confederacy." 

Judge H. S. Benning of Mississippi thus expressed him- 
self: "Let us seek equality out of the Union, where the 
laws of God, the rights of man, and the feelings of free 
men counsel us unerringly that we should" seek our redress." 

In November, Governor Potter of the same State argued 
that " Mississippi, separately or in concert with other 
Southern States, as she might elect, ought at once to dis- 
continue her connection with the abolition States." 

Governor Gist of South Carolina declared : " I solemnly 
believe we can no longer live in peace and harmony in the 
Union ;" and Jefferson Davis exclaimed : " Let the Union 
be dissolved !" 

Again, Governor Gist, in a message to the Legislature, 
after threatening the border States which may not join the 
Southern Confederacy with embarrassment, as she, South 
Carolina, will not consent to buy their slaves, declared 
that — 

" All liope, therefore, of concerted action by a Southern Convention 
being lost, there is but one course left for South Carolina to pursue 
consistent with her honor, interest and safety, and that is, to look 
neither to the right nor the left, but go straight forward to the con- 
summation of her purpose. It is too late now to receive proposi- 
tions for a conference ; and the State would be wanting in self- 
respect, after having deliberately decided on her own course, to 
entertain any proposition looking to a continuance of the present 
Union. We can get no better or safer guarantee than the present 
Constitution ; and that has proved impotent to protect us against 
the fanaticism of the. North. The institution of Slavery must be 
under the exclusive control of those directly interested in its preser- 
vation, and not left to the mercy of those that believe it to be their 
duty to destroy it." 

Davis almost immediately succeeded Yancey at Memphis 



OF AXDEEW JOmrSOF. 193 

in A.ugust, I860, and made a speech, the gist of which was 
thus indicated by the Ajjpeal of that city : 

" The inference which -we drew from his oratorical effort was 
simply this : That Colonel Davis thought this was a veiy bad and 
disagreea! ile Union for Southerners to live in at best ; that it would 
be prudent for all of us, who don't desire to be captured by the 
Abolitionists and be made ' hewers of wood and drawers of water,' 
to get out of it immediately, or vote for the Yancey ticket just as 
we choose. He thought that it would be self-disgrace and self- 
degradation for any Southern man to accept office or Uve under ? 
Black Republican Administration." 

Mr. L. "YV. Spratt of South Carolina, a noted advocate of 
the opening of the slave trade, held that " the men of the 
South have higher trusts than to preserve the Union," 
while Mr. Davis, in a greater passion, declared that " We 
of the South will tear the Constitution in pieces, and look 
to our guns for justice and right." 

Mr. Lawrence M. Keitt was not less emphatic. He gave 
his advice' freely and unmistakably. " My advice," says he, 
" to the South is, to snap the cords of the Union at once and 
for ever." And again, a South Carolina paper furnished 
the following report : 

" Hon. L. M. Keitt was serenaded at Columbia on Monday even- 
ing ; and in response to the compliment he spoke at considerable 
length in favor of separate State action. He said South Carolina 
could not take one step backward now without receiving the curses 
of posterity. South Carolina, single and alone, was bound to go 
out of this accursed Union : he would take her out if but three 
men weut with him, and if slaves took her back it would be to 
her graveyard. Mr. Buchanan was pledged to secession, and he 
meant to hold him to it. The policy of the State should be pru- 
dent and bold. His advice was, move on, side by side. He re- 
quested union and harmony among those embarked in the same 
great cause ; but yield not a day too long, and when the time comes 
let it come speedily. Take your destinies in your own hands, and 
shatter this accursed Union. South Carolina could do it alone. 
But if she could not, she could at least throw her arms around the 
pillars of the Constitution, and involve all the States in a common 
ruin. Mr. Keitt was greatly applauded throughout his address." 
13 



194 LIFE AND P UBLIC SEE VICES 

Wm. Porcher Miles, another of the South Carolina band of 
brothers, said : " How do we stand now ? The South stands 
upon her own platform, dependent upon her own strong arm 
for support. We have determined to support two men who 
have heartily indorsed the platform with a Southern code." 

Mr. Jas. L. Pugh of Alabama, who made a clear exposition 
of disunion during the discussion on the election of Speaker 
in the previous session, calmly asserted that " the truest con- 
servatism and the wisest statesmanship demand a speedy 
termination of all association with such confederates, and 
the formation of another Union." 

The voice of Governor Perry of Florida, was like that of 
Sempronius, " still for war." " I believe," said he, " that 
her voice should be heard in ' tones not loud but deep/ in 
favor of an eternal separation." But Mr. Bonham would 
have no delavs. He cried, " I am in favor of an immediate 
dissolution." 

All of these utterances, with one or two exceptions, Avere 
made before the election of Mr. Lincoln, and show why the 
professed Disunionists desired to break up the Democratic 
Convention. 

The other cause alluded to, the persecution of Douglas by 
the President, was announced by Governor Herschell V. 
Johnson of Georgia, the Democratic nominee for Vice- 
President, in a speech at Macon on the 28th of June : 

" Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated amidst the Kansas diffi- 
culties, when the Lecompton Constitution was about to be 
formed. It was the avowed policy of the President, com- 
municated to and approved by Douglas, that it should be 
submitted to the people for ratification before the State 
should be admitted into the Union. When Robert J. 
Walker was appointed Governor of Kansas, he was advised 
of this policy, and instructed to carry it into effect.* On 

* GoTernor Walker wrote his own instructions, which were agreed to and 
signed by the President. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 1 95 

his way to Kansas lie called to see Douglas at Chicago, by 
request of the President, and read him his inaugural ad- 
dress, which lie was to publish on his arrival, in which this 
policy of Mr. Buchanan was fully set forth. Douglas re- 
newed his approval, and assured Walker, as he had pre- 
viously assured Mr. Buchanan, that he might rely upon his 
zealous aid in sustaining the policy of submitting the consti- 
tution to the people for ratification, before the State should 
he admitted into the Union. Walker, on his arrival in Kan- 
sas, did publish his inaugural, in which he stated : 

" ' That unless the convention submit the constitution to 
the vote of all the actual resident settlers of Kansas, and 
the election be fairly and justly conducted, the constitu- 
tion will be, and ought to be rejected by Congress.' 

" It will be remembered that this policy of the Adminis- 
tration, as soon as it was promulgated, by the publication 
of Mr. Walker's inaugural, awakened considerable indigna- 
tion at the South. The Democratic Conventions of Georgia 
and Mississippi passed resolutions of condemnation. Hence, 
when the Lecompton Constitution came to Congress, with 
nothing but the slavery clause submitted to the people, Mr. 
Buchanan not having the nerve to withstand these censures 
from the South, abandoned the policy on which he and 
Walker and Douglas had agreed, and recommended the 
admission of Kansas as a State into the Union. Douglas 
adhered to the understanding, and resisted its admission, 
not because the constitution tolerated slavery, but because 
it was not submitted, as a whole, to the people for their 
ratification. I repeat, the South did not approve of this 
policy of the Administration. They believed that it was 
not the business or the duty of the President and his Cabi- 
net to intermeddle ; but that it was exclusively the prov- 
ince of the Lecompton Convention to submit or not submit 
the constitution for ratification, according to their own 
views of duty and expediency. 



196 ■ LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Still, however, when tlie English Compromise bill was 
passed, in lieu of the admission of Kansas, and passed with 
the almost unanimous consent of the South, this policy of the 
Administration was forgiven and forgotten, and it would 
have been but liberal, magnanimous and just, if the Presi- 
dent had made it the occasion of sheathing the sword which 
he had so fiercely wielded against Mr. Douglas because he 
adhered to the policy which Mr. Buchanan abandoned. Mr. 
Douglas would have shared in the generosity of the South, 
which it extended to the Administration, after the passage 
of the English bill, if that Administration had not, by all 
the pliances of patronage and power, kept up the war upon, 
and sought to crush him. But the President tolerated no 
difference of opinion upon this question. He pursued Mr. 
Douglas into his own State, and sought to defeat him in his 
herculean struggle with Lincoln for the United States 
Senate. He has pursued him down to the present 
hour ; the presses, in his confidence, all over the Union, 
have traduced and maligned him, and fanned the flame of 
popular prejudice against him ; his army of office-holders, 
almost without exception, have been busy in the ignoble 
work of his destruction. So indiscriminate has been the 
warfare, that Mr. Douglas, a short time ago declared, openly 
in the Senate, that no friend of his was allowed by the Ad- 
ministration to be a postmaster at the most obscure cross- 
road post-office in the country." 

The cry of popular sovereignty against Douglas was a mere 
pretext. Nearly all the Southern men were committed to 
it, the doctrine having been shadowed forth in the measures 
of 1850 ; embodied in the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854, 
and made the basis of Democratic action in the Cincin- 
nati platform. Volumes of extracts from the speeches of 
Southern leaders might be compiled acknowledging it, but 
the jealousy of many for Douglas, and the more desperate 
projects in the minds of the organizers of disunion, fell in 



OF AFDEEW JOIWSOK 197 

most suitably with the vindictive feelings of Mr. Buchanan. 
Circumstances had made Douglas' position a most remarka- 
ble one. The more firmly he remained attached to the 
basis on which Mr. Buchanan was elected, the more widely 
the latter felt his own departure from it, and he strove 
earnestly by every means to get a party indorsement of 
his actions. 

Thus many who threatened to secede from the Conven- 
tion unless Congressional intervention was conceded, " were 
willing to waive the principle if candidates should be nomi- 
nated to suit them — that is to say, that they placed men 
above principles." If such had been effected, and Douglas 
defeated for a nomination, Buchanan would have received 
the act as a sustainment of his course. On the other hand 
Yancey and the organizers of disruption were on the ground 
moulding the elements to further the plan outlined in his 
Columbia speech. 

In violation of the well settled parliamentary rule, that 
all deliberative bodies have a right to decide who are en- 
titled to seats as members thereof, some delegates, though 
admitted at Baltimore, refused to take scats, simply because 
other delegates were not admitted, thus attempting to dic- 
tate to the whole body as to who should and who should not 
be component parts of it. . From these delegates was heard 
nothing of a demand for Congressional intervention. Where, 
then, was their ground for secession ? Here, again, it was 
a matter of men and not a matter of 'principle. 

Even after the secession at Charleston, Virginia voted 
fifty-seven times for Hunter, Kentucky for Guthrie, and 
Tennessee thirty-six times for Andrew Johnson. Well 
might Governor Herschcll V. Johnson ask, " Why should 
these States complain of the action of the convention ? 
What show of good faith is there in taking the chances 
through so many ballotings for their respective favorites, 
and then, when the hope of success was gone, withdrawing 



198 LIFE OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 

under the pretext of an alleged erroneous parliamentary de- 
cision upon a contest for seats ?" 

In seeking for justification of secession we search in vain. 
The more we search the more we find evidences alone con- 
firming the two reasons for the disruption of the Na- 
tional Convention, sectional ambition and personal enmity. 
On the one hand, the Disunionists wished for all practical 
purposes to keep the South out of the Presidential contest, 
so that the result might be attained on which they based a 
necessity of separation ; on the other, Buchanan, whom Mr. 
Keitt announced as pledged to secession, wanted Douglas 
defeated. 




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CHAPTER XII. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF DISUNIO N — C ONTINUED. 

Election of Lincoln — South Carolina leads Secession — Activity of the 
Disunionists — Action in Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama — Southern Re- 
liance on a Million of Northern Democrats as a Wall of Fire — Making 
Treason Attractive — Judge Magrath — Henry A. Wise offers his Services 
to South Carolina — Jeff. Davis anxious for a Harvest of Death — The 
Meeting of Congress — Description of the Dramatis Persona in the Senate — 
Douglas — Hamlin, Vice-President elect — Lane, the Defeated — Hunter and 
Bayard — Sumner and Lord Lyons — Hale and Seward — The Reading of 
the President's Message in the House — The South Carolina Representatives 
— Groups in the Senate — Exciting Debate on the Message — Clingman Justi- 
fies the South — Saulsbury alludes to the Constitution — The Senate Com- 
mittee of Thirteen and House Committee of Thirty-three on the state of the 
Union — The Seizure of the Forts Anticipated — The Cabinet Falling to 
pieces — Howell Cobb Resigns — Lewis Cass breaks his Sword a Second 
Time — His occupation gone — Wigfall's Violent Speech — Wade's Declara- 
tion of Lincoln's Policy — The Laws to be Executed and Revenues to be 
Collected — A Republic of Free Labor — The House Committee at Work — 
Address of Southern Senators and Representatives for a " Southern Con- 
federacy." 

As both North and South, on very different grounds, de- 
sired, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United 
States.* The election, which on usual occasions, quiets 
popular commotion, but added to the anxieties and excite- 
ments of the day. The South had at last made its opportu- 
nity, and the long cherished schemes and hopes of at least 
one of the Southern States were being put into a form of 
temporary realization. Of course South Carolina took the 
lead in the secession movement. Her Legislature met on 

* The popular vote stood thus: Lincoln, 1,857,810; Douglas, 1,305, 970; 
Breckinridge, 847,958 ; and Bell, 590,631. In the Electoral College the votes 
stood: Lincoln, 180; Douglas, 12; Breckinridge, 72 ; and Bell 39. 

(199) 



200 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the 4th of November, and, while going through the for 
mality of casting her Electoral vote for President of the 
United States, in the same breath called for a Convention to 
break up the Union. The activity and esprit of the Dis- 
unionists kept up a continued and effectual clamor, and 
although a well- defined division soon began to show itself 
in several of the Southern States in regard to the position the 
South should assume, the well-directed and unceasing actions 
of the ultras seemed to fill the public ear. They control- 
led the chief journals, the most rebellious actions were the 
most highly commended, and the encomiums paid to treason- 
able speech was in the ratio to its audacity. Agents from 
Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama were promptly sent 
North to purchase the best arms " without regard to ex- 
pense." Mr. Keitt declared it to be the mission of South 
Carolina to sever the " accursed Union," or if not, to grasp 
the pillars of the State and bury the States of the Republic 
in common ruin. He was applauded to the echo. He had 
great reliance on Northern aid, and told his hearers that a 
million of Democrats in the North would stand, like a wall 
of fire, to prevent the Republicans from coercing the South. 
To keep up the spirits of the timid, South Carolina declared 
she could, within thirty days, if necessary, place two hun- 
dred thousand men in the field. Every thing was done to 
make treason attractive. Judge Magrath, of the United 
States District Court, resigned on the election of Lincoln. 
Such noble conduct should not go unrewarded ; a subscrip- 
tion was set on foot to present him with a service of plate. 
Henry A. Wise offered his services to South Carolina, if 
they were not needed by Virginia, which at the time was 
deliberating, and, like the woman who deliberates, was soon 
lost. Jeff. Davis, addressing the people of Vicksburg, said : 

" If Mississippi, in her sovereign capacity, decides to submit to the 
rule of an arrogant and sectional North, then I will sit nie down as 
one upon whose brow the brand of infamy and degradation has been 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 201 

written, and bear my portion of the bitter trial. But if, on the other 
hand, Mississippi decides to resist the hand that would tarnish the 
bright star which represents her on the national flag, then I will 
come at your bidding, whether by day or by night, and pluck that 
star from the galaxy, and place it upon a banner of its own. I will 
plant it upon the crest of battle, and gathering around me the nu- 
cleus of Mississippi's best and bravest, will welcome the invader 
to the harvest of death ; and future generations will point to a small 
hillock upon our border, which will tell the reception with which 
the invader was met upon our soil." 

Thus the time between the election of Lincoln and the 
meeting of Congress was filled with dreadful notes of 
preparation. Congress — the Second Session of the Thirty- 
sixth — assembled on the 3d of December, and the President's 
message was received on the next day. The occasion was 
one of unusual interest. The annexed description of the 
opening scenes and acts was written on the spot and pub- 
lished the following clay : 

" The Congress of the United States was opened in the customary 
manner, but the galleries of the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives were filled with people throbbing with more than the customary 
anxiety and interest. The prayers, too, of the Rev. Mr. Gurley in 
the Senate, and Rev. Mr. Stockton in the House — especially that of 
the former— were of a more elevated and conciliatory nature than 
usual, and were devoted to a condensation of those fears and hopes 
which were evidently uppermost in the minds of the crowding spec- 
tators. I do not know with what feelings Messrs. L. M. Keitt, Wil- 
liam W. Boyce, Milledge L. Bonham, Porcher Miles, and company, 
beheld the stars and stripes flying over both wings of the Capitol, 
but I do know that it inspired feelings not less patriotic and retro- 
spectively proud, than those with which Francis S. Key beheld it 
still flying on the morning after the bombardment of Fort Mc Henry, 
and which found vent in the passionate and descriptive ode— the 
Star Spangled Banner — now become national. I do know that 
many a gentle heart of woman throbbed the quicker, seeing that 

' Our flag was still there,' 

and many an earnest hope of man found expression in words of en- 
thusiasm and pride, yet I found few, however hopeful, who did not 
express fears and disgust of an unequivocal nature. 
9* 



202 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

"On the opening day the Senate Chamber was an object of 
particular interest, and the disposition of the dramatis personm on 
that elevated political stage formed the natural subject of specula- 
tive interchange. The attendance of Senators was greater, I think, 
than at the opening of last session.. The appearance of the honora- 
ble gentlemen who now stand so prominently before the country was 
genial and singularly free from any positive exhibition of those ran- 
corous feelings which their journalistic antagonists are so lavish in 
attributing to them. * As might have been expected, a large share of 
popular interest and curiosity was centered on Senator Douglas, and 
the conclusion drawn, as Senator Powell of Kentucky, the right hand 
man of Mr. Breckinridge, or Senator Clingman, of North Carolina, 
entered into conversation with him, were of a very various and' sug- 
gestive nature. Douglas looked marvelously well in health, and but 
for the use of a cane, rendered necessary by a lameness resulting 
from the accident on the steamboat at Mongomery, Ala., his appear- 
ance offered no evidence of the arduous labors in which he has been 
engaged. Calm in position, self-reliant in expression, and equable 
in temper, he attracts the hopeful attention of the galleries. The 
suggestion thrown out by him on Saturday night at the serenade — 
that Congress could pass a law making it felony to resist the enforce- 
ment of the Fugitive Slave Act, has drawn renewed attention to him. 

" Senator Hamlin, as the successful candidate for the Vice-Presi- 
dency, and Senator Lane, as the defeated one, both being in their 
seats, suggest the inquiries of many on the benches and around the 
lobby doors. The former has not previously been the subject of 
much consideration or compliment. He was formerly a Democrat, 
but for several years has acted with the anti-Democrats, fell in with 
the tremendous current of Republicanism, and was swept to the 
steps of the White House. He is now one of the great observed, 
and, for a long time after the Senate came together, he seemed con- 
scious of the fact. It is a difficult thing for a man, even used to 
public life, to stand the public gaze, when he is one of the two 
picked out of thirty millions of people to fill their highest offices. 
Senator Hamlin was never on exhibition before, and he buried his 
head over his desk, and with spectacles on nose, earned on a real or 
imaginary correspondence on note paper. He was presently invaded 
by several of his friends, and anon was betrayed by the directness of 
Senator Simmons of Rhode Island, into a conversation. Mr. Hamlin 
is an amiable looking man, having a placid expanse of feature ; but 
he is positive in the expression of his views, and the sallowness of 
his complexion does not deny its usual concomitant of bitterness, if 
not warmth, in debate. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 203 

" Senator Joseph Lane sandwiched between Latham of California, 
and Green of Missouri, is entertained by them ; while, as forming a 
sort of background to this trio, may be seen Senators Hunter of 
"Virginia, and Bayard (the ' Great Seceder ') of Delaware, reclining 
on a sofa, and by their facial expression and gesticulation, contra- 
dicting the ease of mind which their position might indicate. As a 
companion picture, on another sofa, at the other side of the main 
entrance, Senator Sumner and Lord Lyons are entertaining each 
other. They are joined by Senator Anthony of Rhode Island, who, 
after contributing his quota to the compliments (if there are any) of 
the season, strikes over to the ' Southern side,' and fraternizes with 
Senator Green. Among the ' South,' Senator Hale is familiarly pleas- 
ant ; nor, to all appearance, is the pressure of their ' arch enemy,' 
Senator W. H. Seward, among them, cause for angry looks or words. 
That eminent Senator exhibits even more than his usual self-compla- 
cency. I suppose — as a gentleman in the reporter's gallery remarked — 
he feels that he is now master of the school, and indeed he will be, if 
the absence of Southern Senators gives his party a working majority. 

" Rarely has the President's message been looked for with such 
anxiety. Great was the pertinacity with which special correspon- 
dents confronted and cross-questioned every person likely, even in 
an indirect way, to have any intimation of its views on secession. 
Busiest among those indefatigable workers, were the gentlemen who 
illuminate the Herald, the World, and the Times; but their labors 
were unavailing ; previous indiscretions of people about the White 
House having warned the head of it of the power of the press in de- 
nouncing the partial distribution of documents to which every 
journal is equally entitled. 

" I heard the message in the House, being anxious to observe its 
effect on the ' popular branch.' My chief attention was directed to 
the Representatives from South Carolina. As the well-modulated 
voice of the Clerk, Colonel Forney, rolled off the report of the Presi- 
dent, these gentlemen appeared like men willing to listen, but not 
likely to be led. Mr. Porcher Miles appeared more sensitive to it, or 
something else, than the others. He was pale, and closely attentive, 
occasionally embracing the nether portion of his face with his open 
hand, and resting thoughtfully on it. But once he made a remark 
to Burnett of Kentucky beside him, and that was when the message 
announced the United States officers in charge of the forts in South 
Carolina had positive orders to act only on the defensive, and thus 
place the responsibility on the assailants. 

"Messrs. Keitt and Bonham entered at about 1 o'clock, audjust 
after the Presidential review of the position of South Carolina. The 



204 LIFE OF ANDREW JOUNSON. 

latter took Ms place next one of his colleagues, and the former, after 
displacing his overcoat, took his seat near the outside row on the 
right. The political atmosphere in his immediate neighborhood 
was of an unmistakably revolutionary odor. In the row before 
him were Pryor of Virginia, Underwood of Georgia, and his col- 
ics Boyce, Bonham and McQueen ; while beside him was that 
persistent advocate for the re-opening of the slave-trade — James L. 
Pugh of Alabama. Ashmore, the other Palmetto Representative, was 
in the front row next to the Speaker's chair ; and while he looked 
like an exile from his colleagues, had the advantage— only, however, 
in the mind's eye — of being near to the Representative of the Consti- 
tution of the United States. 

" When the Clerk had exhausted that portion of the message refer- 
ring to secession, the breathless silence which had been preserved on 
the floor was instantaneously broken. The Republican side became 
largely vacated, and members who did not retire, having been sup- 
plied with the printed ' message extra,' plunged into it, or entered 
into loud conversation, or demonstrative recognition of each other. 
The noise and bustle was considerably augmented by the arrival of 
the Globe, and its distribution by the pages. Notwithstanding the 
clamor on the floor, the galleries remained full and attentive, striving 
to catch, above the continuous din, further indications of the state 
of the Government as represented by the President ; or probably 
waiting in anticipation of some action on its more important part. 
In the midst of the noise, I withdrew to glance at the Senate. 

" I found the Chamber resolved into several groups in earnest dis- 
cussion, while the chief clerk wended his way through the recom- 
mendations touching China, Japan, San Juan, and other topics of 
minor interest. Some of these groups were significant, and probably 
have or will have an historical importance. Crittenden, Douglas 
and Fitzpatrick were in earnest conversation. The venerable Senator 
from Kentucky, whose Union sentiments had long given his Senato- 
rial eloquence an additional splendor, seems particularly alive to the 
responsibilities and duties devolving on party leaders. Perhaps 
Fitzpatrick now doubts the wisdom of having resigned the nomina- 
tion for Vice-President, as his remaining on the ticket might have 
been a conservative barrier to the more violent action of the Seces- 
sionists which has been developed since. Douglas and the eminent 
Kentuckian consult. The former evidently accords with Crittenden 
on some course to be pursued, and the latter, rather sorrowfully, takes 
his seat, from which he was soon called to invoke conciliation and 
sacrifice for the sake of the Union, against the disunion comments 
of Senator Clingman. 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 205 

"Another group is important. Jefferson Davis, Hunter of Vir- 
ginia, and Yulee of Florida, have their heads together. Davis is an 
acknowledged leader of secession, and Hunter, one of the ablest men 
in the Senate, has a decided leaning that way. After awhile, Davia 
seeing Bonham and McQueen enter, quickly joins them, and with 
them disappears into an ante-room, for the purposes of consultation. 

" On the other side the broad and distinct indications of secession 
given by Senator Clingman, drives Sumner to the side of Seward, 
and the latter yields his ear until attracted by the North Carolina 
Senator's allusion to the 'irrepressible conflict declarations' made 
by ' the distinguished Senator from New York.' Hale and Wash- 
burne of the House, Governor elect of Maine, have Hamlin between 
them. "Washbume wears that curious querrulousness of face peculiar 
to a rapid man. coming to unpleasant conclusions, and Hale is not 
joking. To one who studies politics and party combinations, these 
little groups have a significance equal to action of a more demonstra- 
tive character.* 

President Buchanan's Message was utterly beneath the 
crisis. It gave general dissatisfaction. Its positions were 
aptly condensed by Senator Hale thus: 1. South Carolina 
had just cause to secede. 2. That she had no right to 
secede. 3. That the United States had no right to prevent 
her secession. Senator Clingman of North Carolina led off 
the debate in a disunion speech. While agreeing with the 
President that the Government had no power to force a 
State to remain in the Union, he thought it fell short of 
stating the case before the country. He justified the course 
of the Southern States, and advised Congress to divide the 
public property and apportion the public debt, and advised 
Senators that several States would secede before sixty days. 

Senator Crittenden regretted /such a speech had been made. 
The duties of the hour required a different disposition of 
mind, and he hoped the example of Mr. Clingman would not 
be followed. 

Senator Hale saw in the state of affairs one of two things 
— the submission not of the South but of the North — the 

* " Congressional Notes," by Ezek. Richards, States and Union. 



20G LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

surrender of the popular sentiment which had constitution- 
ally spoken through the ballot-box, or it meant war. If the 
latter, he hoped to meet it. Senator Brown said the South 
only wanted to go in peace ; if it would not be permitted, 
then, God defend the right. Senator Iverson followed, wad- 
ing knee deep in ferocity. He said five States will liave 
declared their independence before the 4th of March. The 
secession action of Texas was clogged by her Governor 
(Houston), but if he did not yield to public sentiment " some 
Texan Brutus," said Iverson, " will arise to rid his country 
of the hoary-headed incubus." Senator Jefferson Davis 
assumed a high tone of courtesy, thought threats were 
" inappropriate," while they met as Senators, and announced 
that he expected to be out of the Chamber before war 
would be declared against his State. The more Senator 
Wigfall read the message, the less he comprehended it. As 
to Soutlf Carolina, he would seize the forts and cry, " To 
your tents Israel !" 

After these violent ebullitions, which wore listened to by 
crowded galleries, and a distinguished number of Represen- 
tatives on the floor, it was pleasant to hear a voice, as if from 
the wilderness, raised in deprecation of them. It was the 
voice of Senator Saulsbury of Delaware, declaring that his 
State was the first to sign the Constitution, and would be 
the last to destroy it. No one had more effectively aided 
the Yancey programme at the Baltimore Convention, and I 
mention him here as affording a striking commentary on the 
ruin he helped to facilitate. The applause in the galleries 
which greeted his respectful mention of the Constitution, 
was an anathema on the action which made the mention 
necessary. 

A select committee of thirteen was appointed in the Senate, 
and in the House, one composed of a member from each 
Slate, to which should be referred so much of the President's 
Message as related to the state of the country. To these 



OF AXDRE W JOHXSOX 207 

committees all resolutions presented in either branch re- 
spectively were referred. But this knowledge did not 
change the current of the exciting debates. 

In the mean time anticipations that South Carolina would 
inaugurate war by seizin.2; the forts in Charleston harbor, 
kept the public mind at once in a sensitive and turbulent 
state. The Cabinet, too, was falling to pieces, the course of 
Mr. Buchanan giving satisfaction to neither the Union nor 
disunion elements in it. On the 8th December Hon. Howell 
Cobb sent in his resignation as Secretary of the Treasury. 
Duty to his State would not permit him to continue a mem- 
ber of the Administration, which he believed would be the 
last to preside over the Union. If duty to a State forced 
Mr. Cobb to resign, duty to the United States compelled 
General Cass to leave the State Department on the 14th. 
The venerable Secretary of State resigned because the Presi- 
dent would not reinforce the Charleston forts. He is re- 
ported in conversation to have declared he was a patriot 
soldier of the old school, and a Jackson Democrat. " I can- 
not longer remain," continued he, " in a Cabinet that con- 
fesses that the General Government is subordinate to a 
State ; and there being no Government, virtually my occu- 
pation is gone." 

The course of General Cass created much discussion. 
" Ain't it too bad," said a prominent Senator, " that a man 
has to break his sword twice in a life-time — at the com- 
mencement and at the end of his eventful career. At the 
surrender of Hull at Detroit, Cass was so disgusted at the 
conduct of his commander, and not having a fight, that he 
broke his sword. Now he breaks it because his present 
chief won't fight." 

The debate in both Houses continued, the chief features 
in the Senate being a violent disunion speech by Senator 
Wigfall on the 12tii and 13th, and from Senator Wade of 
Ohio, what was then regarded as an authoritative declara- 



203 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

tion of the policy of the in-coming party. As such the 
leading points are given. As on important occasions during 
this debate the foreign embassies were well represented on 
the floor : 

" Senator Wade inquired what there was in the doctrines of the 
Republican party to justify the fears of the South ? That party stood 
on the same ground with Washington, Jefferson and the lathers of 
the Constitution. They regarded slavery as an evil; they did not 
pretend to any right of interference with it in the States, but they 
were pledged never to allow the extension of slavery over an inch of 
territory now free. He declined replying to the question as to 
whether he would enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. For himself, he 
would only say he would obey any thing declared to be law, whether 
he liked the law or not. The Senator referred to the personal in- 
tegrity of Mr. Lincoln, and argued that no person had a right to 
infer that he would violate any law or commit any act of injustice 
upon any one. 

"The Republican party had met their opponents, they had made 
the issue fairly before the American people. He thought the people 
had never understood any issue so well before. The Republicans 
had won the battle, the opposition are now disposed to break up 
the Government to avoid Republican domination. He denounced 
the doctrine of secession ; referred to the debate of Webster and 
Hayne as decisive against the right. He referred to the Fort Hill 
letter of Mr. Calhoun to show that whilst that gentleman considered 
nullification a constitutional remedy, he did not regard secession as 
lawful. He, therefore, denied the right of a State to withdraw, and 
showed the consequence. Gentlemen had threatened dissolution, 
and then implored the Republican party to come forward with a 
proposition for compromise. He had thought the day of compro- 
mises past. The Missouri Compromise was repealed. He had been 
told it was but a law. Why should we expect any other law to be 
held more sacred ? We should understand each other ; we should 
look this question in the face. When the President elect should 
come to be inaugurated, it would become his sworn duty to execute 
the laws over the whole Union. If any States should be found in 
hostility to the Government, the laws must be enforced. It might 
be that States would not recognize the Federal Government, yet the 
Federal Government would collect the revenues. It was said the 
Federal Government could not declare war against the States. If 
the collection of the revenues should be resisted, the States would 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 209 

have levied war against the Federal Government, and tlien war 
would have been inevitable. He would be glad if this could be 
avoided, but it could not be. The President would be sworn to ex- 
ecute the laws and preserve the Union. He, himself, was sworn to 
do the same. He could not avoid the performance of liis duty. 
Suppose, said Senator Wade, the Southern States should withdraw 
peacefully, would their situation be better? The civilized world 
condemned slavery as much as the free States did. The civilized world 
would never sympathize with the institution. The policy of the 
free States would be to extend a protectorate over Mexico. Mexico 
hated the South for her fillibustering and her encroachments. She 
would love the North, because it proffered freedom and safety. 

" The free States would offer to the world a Homestead law ; they 
would invite the laboring white man from every quarter of the 
globe. They did not believe in making a government solely for the 
negro, as had been intimated by the Senator from Illinois and others ; 
but would found a republic of free labor. The slave States might 
go on with their system alongside, and the world would judge which 
system was most consonant with human happiness."* 

While the House Committee of Thirty-three, on which 
there were such Northern men as Corwin of Ohio, C. F. 
Adams of Massachusetts, Morrill of Vermont, Curtis of 
Iowa, Dunn of Indiana, Washburne of Wisconsin, and such 
Southern men as Millson of Virginia, Houston of Alabama, 
Boycc of South Carolina, Rust of Arkansas, Hamilton of 
Texas, Winslow of Xorth Carolina and Taylor of Louisiana — 
while this Committee was candidly, and with a just sense 
of its duty and the occasion, applying itself to the task of 
settling the issues of the day, another evidence, if any were 
necessary to prove that the consideration of their grievances 
was a pretext with the extreme Southerners, was afforded in 
the publication of the following 

ADDRESS OF CERTAIN SOUTHERN SENATORS AND MEMBERS OP 

CONGRESS. 

To our Constituents : Washington, Decemher 14, 1860. 

The argument is exhausted. All hope of relief in the Union 
through the agency of committees, Congressional legislation or 

* "Congressional Notes," by Ezek. Richards, States, December IS, 1360. 

14 



210 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

constitutional amendments, is extinguished, and we trust the South 
will not be deceived by appearances or the pretense of new guaran- 
tees. In our judgment, the Republicans are resolute in the purpose 
to grant nothing that will or ought to satisfy the South. We are 
satisfied the honor, safety and independence of the Southern people 
require the organization of a Southern confederacy — a result to be 
obtained only by separate State secession — that the primary object 
of each slaveholding State ought to be its speedy and absolute sep- 
aration from a Union with hostile States. 

J. L. Pugh, of Alabama. A. G. Brown, U. S. Senator, Miss. 

David Clopton, of Alabama. William Barksdale, of Mississippi. 

Sydenham Moore, of Alabama. Reuben Davis, of Mississippi. 
J. L. M. Curry, of Alabama. Burton Craig, of North Carolina. 

J. A. Stallworth, of Alabama. Thos. Ruffin, of North Carolina. 
J. W. H. Underwood, of Georgia. John Slidell, U. S. Senator, Lou. 
L. J. Gartrell, of Georgia. J. P. Benjamin, U. S. Senator, Lou. 

James Jackson, of Georgia. J. M. Lanclruni, of Louisiana. 

John J. Jones, of Georgia. L. T. Wigfall, U. S. Senator, Texas. 

Martin J. Crawford, of Georgia. John Hemphill, U. S. Senator, Tex. 
Alfred Iverson, U. S. Senator, Geo. J. H. Reagan, of Texas. 
George S. Hawkins, of Florida. M. L. Bonham, of South Carolina. 
T. C. Hindman, of Arkansas. W. Porcher Miles, of South Caro. 

Jeff. Davis U. S. Senator, Miss. John McQueen, of South Carolina. 
John D. Ashmore, of South Carolina. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Johnson's Faith in the Union — Awakens to a Sense of the Situation — His Po- 
sition toward the Southern Leaders — Not to be Brow-beaten or Frightened — 
The Senate Debate continued — Johnson on the Right of Secession — Great 
Speech of December 18 and 19, 1860 — He takes open Ground against the 
Traitors — His Propositions to Amend the Constitution — Rights of the South 
within the Union — Quotes Madison, Jackson, Marshall and Webster against 
Secession — Washington enforced the Laws in 1795 — Jackson and Nullifi- 
cation — A Seceding State a Foreign Power — South Carolina an Abolition- 
ist — Liucoln's Election no Cause for Secession — The South favoring a 
Monarchy. 

As has been remarked, Andrew Johnson was not dis- 
tinguished for singing peans to the Union. With the patri- 
otic faith in his own heart, he regarded such periodical 
displays as but a cheap method of attracting, or very easy 
onc of sustaining, notoriety. He was not a believer in dis- 
solution, could not bring himself to comprehend how men 
born under such a benign flag, shielding such wise institu- 
tions, could contemplate an act so heinous. When Congress- 
men and politicians were variously disrupting and healing 
.the Union in angry or pathetic speeches, he turned a deaf 
ear, and looking into his heart, said, " It cannot be dis- 
solved." He was now awakened, not to a sense of the reali- 
zation of disunion, but of horror and indignation at those 
who already had the arm raised against the most symmetri- 
cal and generous form of government known. 

If he sang no peans to it when he believed it safe, he was 
inspired with a resolute frenzy when he beheld it in clanger. 
His clear, logical and patriotic periods struck consternation 
into the ranks of the traitors, and their boldest advocates 
and sympathizers sprang forward to grapple with him,striv- 

(211) 






2 1 2 LIFE AND P TJBLIC SEE VICES 

ing to attain, by passionate sectional appeals and personal 
denunciations of him as a traitor to the South, that power 
over him which they could not achieve by argument. But 
they miserably failed. The fact that Senator Johnson had 
acted with the Breckinridge wing of the Democracy in the 
previous Presidential campaign but made him the more 
fierce, seeing that the Breckinridge leaders had used the 
occasion to foment the slaveholders' rebellion. Although 
he sympathized with Douglas, Senator Johnson had sup- 
ported Breckinridge in all honesty, believing that his con- 
stituents in Tennessee desired such action, and that in it-lay 
the best chances of uniting the Democratic party. He was 
not in the confidence of the conspirators, and could not know 
that it was their purpose to have the Democratic party 
defeated, so that a plea, however remote and unjust, might 
be furnished to the Yanceyites for carrying out their long 
projected plan of precipitating the cotton States into revo- 
lution. Many Union Southern men were whirled into the 
rebel ranks or cowed into disloyal inaction, by the public 
and private lacerations they were subjected to by the organ- 
ized system of brow-beating pursued by the ultra Southern- 
ers. But Johnson was of different stuff. He was not to be 
awed by any innuendoes of physical coercion, or hushed by 
any display of verbal ferocity. 

The speeches in which he tore asunder all the pleas upon 
which his late coadjutors sought to dissever the Union are 
famous, and cannot be too often perused. They are singu- 
larly able, and the interest attached to their views increases 
into heroism when we remember the place and time, the 
occasion upon which he spoke, the grandeur of the subject 
and t lie character of the men by whom he was surrounded. 

It was on the 18th and 19th of December, 1860, that 
Senator Johnson, convinced of the extremities about to be 
pursued by the traitors, took open ground against them in 
a speech of great and defiant power. It flung consternation 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 213 

and dismay into the ranks of secession, and struck a chord 
in the popular heart throbbing anxiously iu the galleries, 
that several times proved to be irrepressible. This speech, 
as the grand opening effort of a Southern patriot against 
Southern treason, forms a groat historical point not only in 
the career of the orator, but of his country at its most intense 
epoch. TAmong the propositions laid before the Senate for 
the adjustment of difficulties during the second session of 
the Thirty-sixth Congress, were three amendments to the 
Constitution by Senator Johnson. One proposed to change 
the mode of election of President and Vice-President of the 
United States from the Electoral College to a vote substan- 
tially and directly by the people. The second proposed 
that the Senators of the United States shall be elected by 
the people once in six years, instead of by the Legislatures 
of the respective States. The third provided that the Su- 
preme Court shall be divided into three classes : the term 
of the first class is to expire in four years from the time 
that the classification is made, of the second class in eight 
years, and of the third class in twelve years ; and as these 
vacancies occur they are to be filled by persons chosen — 
one-half from the slave States, and the other half from the 
non-slaveholding States, thereby taking the judges of the 
Supreme Court, so far as their selection goes, from the re- 
spective divisions of the country ; also, that either the Presi- 
dent or Vice-President at each election shall be from the 
slavoholding States. 

By these means the Senator trusted to equalize matters 
so that the South could not possibly object if it honestly 
meant to remain in the Union. If the South did not will- 
fully and wantonly mean to disrupt the Union, its repre- 
sentatives could support his proposition. 

Senator Johnson was opposed to secession, and was in 
favor of maintaining the rights of the South within the 
Union. Neither he nor his State would be driven out of 



214 LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

it. Tennessee denied the doctrine of secession, and as for 
himself lie meant to hold on to the Union and the guarantees 
of the Constitution. Taking these grounds on the 18th, 
Johnson and his speech made the topics of conversation that 
night iu the fermenting and excitable circles then congre- 
gated at Washington. Great delight was expressed by the 
Unionists, unmeasured bitterness by the Disunionists, and a 
widening interest in the next day's debate was betrayed by 
all. On the 19th, Senator Johnson resumed. 

His line of argument was to show that a State could not, 
of its own volition, withdraw from the compact. He read 
from Mr. Madison's letters to Mr. Trist and Mr. Webster, 
showing that such was his position. The States delegated 
powers named in the Constitution, and Congress could en- 
force them ; but in doing so it did not become the oppressor. 
The State which resisted them became the aggressor. But 
when the Federal Government failed to carry out these 
powers, it ceased to be a government. He quoted Jackson, 
Webster, Justice Marshall, and others, to show that a State 
had not a constitutional right to secede from the Union 
without the consent of all the States. The Constitution was 
intended to be perpetual, and to that end provision was 
made for its own amendment, its improvement and its con- 
tinuance. 

It was also submitted to the States for ratification, and 
power given to Congress to admit new States. So we had 
in the Constitution : first, the means of creating a Govern- 
ment ; second, a means of perpetuating it ; and third, the 
power to enlarge it. But were provisions found there for 
winding up the Government, except by the inherent princi- 
ple of all the States — not a State — but all the States, which 
spoke the Government into existence and had a right to 
dissolve it? 

He cited the case of the Excise law of 1795 during the 
rebellion in Pennsvlvania, when General Washington was the 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 215 

President, and when he enforced the laws and put down 
the rebellion with a militia force of fifteen thousand men — • 
the constitutional army. He quoted from General Wash- 
ington's views on that rebellion, showing that he had the 
right to enforce the laws of the United States, and that he 
regarded the Union as inseparable. What was the differ- 
ence, then, between the Federal Government enforcing its 
laws in a part or the whole of a State ? Was it not com- 
petent for General Washington to enforce the Excise laws 
against the whole of Pennsylvania as a part? 

Senator Johnson proceeded to review the Nullification 
laws of 1832, and cited the opinion of General Jackson at 
that time, who, as President of the United States, was 
bound by his oath to see, and did see, that the laws were 
faithfully executed. He would have used an armed force 
for that purpose had the time arrived for its necessity. 
Jackson acted just as Washington did in a similar case. 

As to the present case, he would inquire if the Federal 
Government had not the power to enforce its laws in South 
Carolina as much as it had in Pennsylvania, Vermont, or 
in any other State? He thought it had ; and notwithstand- 
ing the ordinance of secession which South Carolina might 
pass, it did not relieve her from her obedience to the United 
States, or from the compact which she entered into. The 
compact was reciprocal. If South Carolina drove the 
Courts of the United States out of the State, the Federal 
Government had the right to reinstate them there. If the 
State resisted the passage of the mails, the Government 
could insist on their protection, and so with the collection 
of the revenue. If the State captured the forts of the 
United States, the Federal Government had the right to re- 
take them. If that State did all of these she was clearly 
in the wrong, and it was the duty of the Federal Govern- 
ment to see that the laws were faithfully executed. If the 
States expelling the Federal Courts and the mails did not 



216 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

commit treason, lie would ask, in the name of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, what was treason? It was 
treason, and nothing but treason ; and if one State can do 
this, there is no Government. 

Madison, Jefferson, Webster and Washington had de- 
nounced this doctrine ; and if South Carolina set up a gov- 
ernment for herself, and made an alliance with European 
powers, and had interests inimical to our own, she could be 
conquered by this Government and held as a province. 
There is a statute of Congress which declares that the Gene- 
ral Government looks with suspicion and disfavor on the 
acquisition of any territory within the limits of the United 
States by any foreign power. Yet if a State secede she 
becomes a foreign power within our borders. 

He proceeded to cite the cost to the Federal Govern- 
ment of the new States, some of which desired to secede. 
Florida, which cost the United States millions of dollars in 
her purchase and in the driving out of the Indians, now 
threatens to withdraw from the United States and leave 
nothing for all this wealth which had been expended on her. 
Again, before Florida and Louisiana became States they 
were Territories of the United States, and if they with- 
drew from the Union, what condition would they assume on 
such withdrawal? Would they be States out of the Union, 
or would they be merely Territories, as before their admis- 
sion. He continued to argue that all the States had ac- 
quired territory, not alone for the benefit of the new States, 
but for the benefit of all the States. No State so acquired 
could by secession rob them of the benefits so acquired. 
Could Louisiana take out of the Union the mouth of the 
Mississippi? 

He regarded the position assumed by South Carolina to- 
ward the border States as tending to extinguish slavery. 
He believed the quickest way to abolish slavery was to dis- 
solve the Government. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 21V 

Mr. Lincoln's election as the plea for secession, lie met 
with characteristic truth and manliness. Should they re- 
treat because Mr. Lincoln lias been elected President of the 
United States? Was there any cause why to retreat? 
Every man knows that if Mr. Breckinridge had been elected 
there would be no talk of dissolving the Union ! Then 
what is the issue ? " It is," said he, " because we have not 
got our man. If we had got our man we should not have 
been for breaking up the Union ; but as Mr. Lincoln is 
elected we are for breaking up the Union ! I say, No. Let 
us show ourselves men, and men of courage. 

" How has Mr. Lincoln been elected, and how have Mr. 
Breckinridge and Mr. Douglas been defeated ? By the 
vote of the American people, cast according to the Consti- 
tution and forms of law, though it has been upon a sectional 
issue. It is not the first time in our history that two can- 
didates have been elected from the same section of country. 
General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun were elected on the same 
ticket ; but nobody considered that cause for dissolution. 
They were both from the South. I opposed the sectional 
spirit that has produced the election of Lincoln and Hamlin, 
yet it has been done according to the Constitution, and in 
accordance to the forms of law." 

Senator Johnson proceeded at length to cite extracts 
from Southern journals, showing that the writers favored a 
monarchical government. He thought, however, that the 
South, before it left this Government, had better well con- 
sider what they were going to enter into. If there were 
evils, had we not (addressing the South) " better bear the 
ills we have, than fly to others that we know not of?" He 
had an abiding, an unshaken faith in man's capability to 
govern himself, and would not yield up this Government 
that is now called an experiment, and which some are pre- 
pared to abandon for a constitutional monarchy. He en- 
treated every patriotic man throughout the nation to conic 
10 



218 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

forward, not in passion, not in fanaticism, not in haste or 
precipitancy , but in deliberation ; in the spirit of brotherly 
love and affection, and rally around the altar of our common 
country, lay the Constitution on it, and swear by our God 
and all that is sacred and holy, that the Constitution shall 
be saved and the Union preserved. 

He intended to stand by, and act in and under the Con- 
stitution. The violators of the ordinances of this constitu- 
tional house should not drive him out. In conclusion, the 
Senator thus declared his determination : " In saying what 
I have said, Mr. President, I have done it in view of a 
duty that I felt I owed to my constituents, to my children, 
to myself. Without regard to consequences I have taken 
my position, and when the tug comes, when Greek shall 
meet Greek, and our rights are refused after all honorable 
means have been exhausted, then it is that I will perish in 
the last breach ; yes, in the language of the patriot Emmet, 
' I will dispute every inch of ground ; I will burn every 
blade of grass ; and the last entrenchment of freedom shall 
be my grave.' Then, let us stand by the Constitution ; and, 
in saving the Union, we save this, the greatest Government 
on earth." 

It was aptly remarked at the time, that Mr. Johnson's 
antecedents made him listened to with respect by many 
classes. He was recommended to the attention of the Re- 
publicans on account of his earnest advocacy in favor of 
his opening the public lands to honest settlement ; to the 
Breckinridge men because he supported their candidate for 
the Presidency ; and to Douglas men because he agreed with 
the great Senator from Illinois on the doctrine of non-inter- 
vention. In addition to which, said Mr. Forney, in a letter 
to the Press, "one of his main claims to public attention is 
founded on the fact that he was a most courageous and con- 
stant defender of the rights of adopted citizens in the 
perilous times of 1854 and '55." 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 219 

If this Senatorial outburst had come from a Northern 
Democrat, it would have fallen with comparatively small 
effect upon the Southern men ; but that a Southern Demo- 
crat, and that Southern Democrat a Senator who had sus- 
tained Breckinridge, should hurl such thunderbolts about 
their heads was unendurable. No higher tribute could be 
paid to the effect of Johnson's speech than the rapacity with 
which he was assailed by the sentinels of treason in the 
Senate. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Action in South Carolina — Ordinance of Secession Passed — Major Ander- 
son's Transfer from Moultrie to Sumter — Secretary Floyd Resigns — 
Commissioners from South Carolina arrive at Washington — Communica- 
tion with the President — Fort Sumter Reinforced — Secret Meeting of the 
Conspirators, their Programme — Davis, Slidell and Mallory to carry it out 

— The President throws the Responsibility on Congress — Secretaries Jacob 
Thompson and Thomas resign — Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana 
and Texas Secede — No Vote of the People Taken — Montgomery Conven- 
tion, Jeff. Davis elected President and Alexander H. Stephens Vice- 
President of "The Confederate States" — Congressional Action — Desire 
of an Adjustment — Seward's Remarkable Avowals — Continued Violence 
of Wigfall, Benjamin, Toombs, Iverson, and others — Johnson replies on 
5th and (Uh February, 1861 — The Political Heresy of Secession — Defends 
his previous Declarations — Effective Replies to Benjamin, Lane and Davis' 
inuendoes — The Ally of all True Men — Exposes Davis' Vote against 
Slavery Protection — Two Sketches of Character — Johnson and Davis 
Contrasted — Intense Closing Scene of the Debate — Punishment of Treason 

— Excitement in the Galleries — Cheering for Johnson and the Union — 
His Speeches " an Era in the Senate." 

"While Senator Johnson was yet forging immutable bands 
around the Union cause in the Union Capital, South Caro- 
lina was unriveting the link that bound her to it, or thought 
she was. The Convention called by the State Legislature 
on the 4th of December, met on the 17th in Columbia, but 
the small-pox hunted the Palmetto patriots to Charleston, 
where, on the 20th, the ordinance of secession was passed, 
repealing the ordinance of May 23, 1788, which ratified 
the Constitution of the United States ; and on the 24th, 
Governor E. W. Pickens proclaimed South Carolina to be 
a " Separate, Sovereign, Free and Independent State." 
Events followed rapidly. On the 26th, Major Eobert 
Anderson transferred his garrison from Fort Moultrie to 

(220) 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 221 

Fort Sumter. On the 27th, Hon. John B. Floyd, Secretary 
of War, requested the President to withdraw the garrison 
from Charleston, which not having been complied with the 
Secretary resigned on the 29th. On the same day, Messrs. 
E. W. Barncwall, J. H. Adams and J. L. Orr, Commissioners 
from South Carolina, arrived at Washington, and opened a 
communication to the President demanding that forts and 
other Government property at Charleston should be delivered 
to the authorities for which they acted. On the next day, the 
President replied, stating that Major Anderson had acted 
on his own responsibility, that his first impulse was to order 
him home, a feeling rendered impossible by the occupation 
of the fort and the seizure of the United States arsenal by 
South Carolina. On the 1st of January the Commissioners 
called on the President to redeem his pledge to maintain the 
status of affairs previous to Major Anderson's removal from 
Moultrie. The President declined to receive this commu- 
nication. On the 5th of January, the Star of the West was 
sent by Government with supplies to Fort Sumter. This 
aroused the conspirators who, on the night of the same day, 
held a secret meeting in Washington, at which the Senators 
from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and 
Texas were present. It was determined to accelerate the 
secession of the Southern States, to hold a convention of 
such as had seceded at Montgomery, Ala., not later than 
the 15th of February ; and that the Senators and Represen- 
tatives from these States should retain their seats in Con- 
gress as long as judicious to check such measures as might 
be undertaken against secession. Davis, Slidell and Mal- 
lory of Florida were intrusted with the carrying out of this 
programme. On the 8th, the President, by message, advised 
Congress of the state of affairs and threw upon it the re- 
sponsibility of meeting the emergency, stating at the same 
time that while he had no right to make aggressive war 
upon any State, it was his duty to use military force de- 



222 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

fensively against those who resisted Federal officers in the 
execution of their duty and those who assail Government 
property. On this day, the Hon. Jacob Thompson alleging 
that Government violated the decision of the Cabinet in 
succoring Fort Sumter, resigned his office as Secretary of 
the Interior. On the 9th, Mississippi passed an ordinance 
of secession. On the 10th, Hon. P. F. Thomas, who had 
succeeded Cobb in the Treasury, resigned.* On the 11th, 
Alabama and Florida passed ordinances of secession, and 
was followed by Louisiana on the 26th, and by Texas on the 
5th of February. In none of these States was the vote of 
the people taken on the issue which plunged them into civil 
war. The convention assembled in Montgomery on the 
4th of February and there adopted a provisional constitution 
under which Jefferson Davis was elected President and 
Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia Vice-President of the 
" Confederacy." 

The debate in the Senate had meanwhile continued with 
mingled violence, pathos, ability and vigor. As indicative 
of the great desire of Congress to make an adjustment, the 
Committee of Thirty-three in the House reported some ad- 
mirable resolutions, the production of Dunn of Indiana and 
Rust of Arkansas, and Senator Seward made a remarkable 
speech in which, after declaring that he would follow " the 
example of the noble Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Johnson], 
and avow his adherence to the integrity of the Union and 
all its parts with his friends, State and party, or without 
them, he avowed himself in favor of: 1. The repeal of all 

* The Cabinet changes during the last three months of Mr. Buchanan's 
Administration were: 

State Department, J. S. Black vice General Cass, resigned. 

Treasury " Philip T. Thomas vice H. Cobb, resigned; J. A. Dix 

vice Thomas, resigned. 

War " J. Holt vice T. B. Floyd, resigned. 

Interior " ....Jacob Thompson, resigned. 

Post Office. " .. ..Horatio King vice Holt. 

Attorney- General, Edwin M. Stanton vice Black, to the State Department. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 223 

personal liberty bills contravening the Constitution. 2. As 
slavery in the States ought to be left to the States, he was 
willing to amend the Constitution so that Congress can never 
abolish or interfere with slavery in the States. 3. While 
believing that Congress had unquestionable authority to 
legislate upon slavery in the Territories, yet the exercise 
of that power should be determined on practical grounds. 
4. He was willing to make laws to arrest John Brown raids ; 
and 5. Was in favor of two Pacific railroads, one of which 
should connect the ports around the mouths of the Missis- 
sippi, and the other the towns on the Missouri and the lakes, 
with the harbors on our western coasts. If the expression 
of these views Senator Seward did not meet the expectations 
of some, he claimed in offering them to have sacrificed many 
of his own cherished convictions. Jefferson had taught him 
that we cannot always do what seems to us absolutely best 
in politics. Undoubtedly his speech — coming from one who 
had accepted the leading position in Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet — 
embraced and conveyed many concessions. But secession, 
not concession, was the demand of those " discontented citi- 
zens" who had obtained political power in the Southern 
States. 

On the other side the violence of Senators Wigfall, Ben- 
jamin, Toombs, Iverson and others was unabated ; and on 
the 5th and 6th of February Senator Johnson replied to the 
acrimonious assaults, the sneering interruptions, the pointed 
ridicule and unmanly innuendoes which were leveled at him. 
His reply was elaborate and dignified. In it he more com- 
pletely and effectually drove home the historical facts and 
logical conclusions of his previous effort. In making that 
speech his intention was — and all thought he succeeded in 
it — to place himself upon the principles of the Constitution 
and the doctrines inculcated by Washington, Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe and Jackson. Having examined the po- 
sitions of those distinguished fathers of the Republic, and 



224 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

compared them with the Constitution, he came to the con- 
clusion that they were right. Upon them he planted him- 
self. These views inspired him. 

As he was the first man south of Mason and Dixon's line 
who, in the Senate, protested against the political heresy of 
secession, he would continue so to do, notwithstanding the 
denunciations he had met with. " From what I saw here," 
he said, " on the evening when I concluded my speech — 
although some may have thought that it intimidated and 
discouraged me — I was inspired with confidence ; I felt that 
I had struck treason a blow. I thought then, and I know 
now, that men who were engaged in treason felt the blows 
that I dealt out on that occasion. As I have been made the 
peculiar object of attack, not only in the Senate, but out of 
the Senate, my object on this occasion is to meet some of 
these attacks, and to say some things in addition to what 1 
then said against this movement." 

He took up the leading Senators who had directly or 
by innuendo, attacked him. "We shall see with what ad- 
mirable nonchalance and pith he disposed of them. After 
replying to the views of Judah P. Benjamin, a notoriously 
able and heartless traitor, who, with his less able but equally 
remorseless colleague, Slidell, had taken leave of the Senate 
on the day previous, he compared the theatrically sad tone 
of Benjamin's valedictory with some quite recent remarks 
from the same source. 

" I thought the scene was pretty well got up, and was 
acted out admirably. The plot was executed to the very 
letter. You would have thought that his people in Louisiana 
were borne down and seriously oppressed by remaining in 
this Union of States. Now, I have an extract before me, 
from a speech delivered by that gentleman since the election 
of Abraham Lincoln, while the distinguished Senator was 
on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, at the city of 
San Francisco. In that speech, after the Senator had 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 225 

spoken some time with his accustomed eloquence, he uttered 
this language : 

" ' Those who prate of, and strive to dissolve this glorious con- 
federacy of States, are like those silly savages who let fly then- 
arrows at the sun in the vain hope of piercing it ! And still the sun 
rolls on, unheeding, in its eternal pathway, shedding light and ani- 
mation upon all the world.' 

" Even after Lincoln was elected, the Senator from 
Louisiana is reported to have said, in the State of Cali- 
fornia, and in the city of San Francisco, that this great 
Union could not be destroyed. Those great and intoler- 
able oppressions, of which we have since heard from him, 
did not seem to be flitting across his vision and playing upon 
his mind with that vividness and clearness which were dis- 
played here yesterday. He said, in California, that this 
great Union would g*o on in its course, notwithstanding the 
puny efforts of the silly savages that were letting fly their 
arrows with the prospect of piercing it. What has changed 
the Senator's mind on coming from that side of the conti- 
nent to this ? What light has broken in upon him ? Has 
he been struck on his way, like Paul, when he was journey- 
ing from Tarsus to Damascus? Has some supernatural 
power disclosed to him that his State and his people will be 
ruined if they remain in the Union ?" 

" In like manner he nullified Benjamin's picture of the 
horrors to be expected at President Lincoln's hands ; by 
quoting from Benjamin's speech of May, 1860, in which he 
said : 

" ' I must say here — for I must be just to all — that I have been sur- 
prised in the examination that I made again, within the last few 
days, of this discussion between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, to 
find that on several points Mr. Lincoln is a far more conservative 
man, unless he has since changed his opinion, than I supposed 
him to be.' 

" Since that speech was made," added Johnson ; " since 
15 



226 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the Senator has traversed from California to this point, the 
grievances, the oppressions of Louisiana, have become so 
great that she is justified in going out of the Union, taking 
into her possession the Custom House, the Mint, the naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi River, the forts and arsenals. Where 
are we ? '0 consistency, thou art a jewel 1' " 

As to Senator Joe Lane's attacking him it was something 
he could scarcely understand. In his speech of the 19 th of 
December, he did not mean to say any thing offensive to the 
Senator from Oregon. He felt that lie had just come out 
of a campaign in which he had labored hard, and expended 
money and time in vindicating Lane and Breckinridge from 
the chanre of favoring secession and disunion. 

Through dust and heat, through mud and rain, he had 
traversed his State, meeting the charge of the Opposition 
that secession was at the bottom of this movement ; that 
there was a fixed design and plan to break up this Govern- 
ment ; that it started at Charleston, and was consummated 
at Baltimore. The charge was made that General Lane was 
the embodiment of disunion and secession. Johnson met 
the charge, denied it, repudiated it, tried to convince the 
people, and he thought he had convinced some of them that 
the charge was untrue, and that Lane and Breckinridge 
were the two best Union men in the country. 

After this bit of satire — which struck home, and only 
provoked a more personal attack from General Lane, just 
previous to the expiration of his term in the following 
month — Senator Johnson came directly to the misconstruc- 
tion placed upon his former words. 

" Why," be asks, " answer positions I did not assume, or attribute 
to me language I did not use ? Was it in tbe speech ? No ! Why, 
tben, use language and assign a position to me which, if not in- 
tended, was calculated to make a false impression ? What called 
it forth ? What reason was there for it ? I saw the consternation 
which was created. I looked at some of their faces. I knew that I 
had stirred up animosity, and it was important that somebody from 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 227 

another quarter should make the attack. If the attack had been 
upon what I said or upon the position I had assumed, I should have 
no cause to complain ; and I do not complain now. Sir, though not 
very old, I have lived down some men. I have survived many mis- 
representations. I feci thaf I have a conscience and a heart that 
will lead me to do it again. But when I had said nothing, when I 
had done nothing to be struck at by him whom I had vindicated, I 
might well exclaim, ' that was the unkindest cut of all.' " 

The uext Senator in order who made an attack upon 
Johnson was Jefferson Davis, who took occasion to do so in 
making his valedictory address to the Senate after Missis- 
sippi had passed the ordinance of secession. It was the 
fashion, not only with that Senator, but with others, to at- 
tempt by innuendo, indirection or some side remark, to 
convey the impression that a certain man had a tendency 
or bearing toward Republicanism or Abolitionism. " Some- 
times," said Johnson, " gentlemen who cannot establish such 
a charge are yet willing to make it, not directly, but by 
innuendo ; to create a false impression on the public mind — 

" ' Willing to wound, but yet afraid to strike.' 

If the charge can be successfully made, why not make it 
directly instead of conveying it by innuendo ? The Senator 
from Mississippi did not attempt to reply to my speech, did 
not answer my arguments, did not meet my authorities, did 
not controvert my facts.'' 

It was thought, by innuendo, to make Johnson " the ally 
of the Senator from Ohio." He, however, did not inquire 
what a man's antecedents were when there was a great 
struggle going on to preserve the existence of the Govern- 
ment. His first inquiry was, Are you for preserving this 
Government? are you for maintaining the Constitution 
upon which it rests ? If Senator Wade or any other Sena- 
tor was willing to come up to this great work, either by 
amending the Constitution of the United States, or passing 
laws that would preserve and perpetuate the Union, John- 



228 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

son declared they were allies. He was the ally of every 
Senator, every member of the House of Representatives, 
every man that loved his country throughout the length and 
breadth of the confederacy, and was in favor of preserv- 
ing the Union on its great and fundamental principles. 
He did not care for their antecedents, or to what might take 
place hereafter. To all such men he cried, " Come forward, 
and, like gallant knights, let us lock our shields and make 
common cause for this glorious people. If I were to in- 
dulge in a similar kind of innuendo, by way of repartee, 
where would the Senator from Mississippi find himself." 

He showed that Davis was one of the forty-three Sena- 
tors who, in the May previous, voted that it was not neces- 
sary to pass a law to protect slavery in the Territories, and 
he asked what rights had South Carolina or the other seced- 
ing States lost since the last session when that vote was 
recorded. It was wholly unnecessary then ; but they will 
secede if it is not granted now. To that same proposition, 
Senator Brown of Mississippi offered a very stringent am- 
endment for the purpose of protecting slave property, and 
supported it by argument. What was the vote upon that? 
" How does it stand ?" asks Johnson : 

" We find," he says, in continuation, " after an argument being 
made by Mr. Brown, showing that the necessity did exist, according 
to his argument, the vote upon the proposition stood thus : The 
question being taken by yeas and nays, it was determined in the 
negative — yeas, 3 ; nays, 42. 

" Forty-two Senators voted that you did not need protection ; 
that slavery was not in danger. 

" ' The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the Senators 
present, 

" ' Those who voted in the affirmative are : Messrs. Brown, John- 
son of Arkansas, Mallory.' 

" There were only three. Who said it was not necessary ? Who 
declared, under the solemn sanction of an oath, that protection was 
not needed ? ' Those who voted in the negative are : Messrs. 
Benjamin' 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 229 

" Ah ! Yes, Benjamin ! 

" ' Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Chestnut, Clark, Clay, Clingman, Crit- 
tenden, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fitzpatrick, Foot, Foster, Green, 
Grimes, Gwin, Hamlin, Harlan, Hemphill, Hunter' 

" Hunter of Virginia, also ! 

" ' Iverson, Johnson of Tennessee, Lane.' 

" Ah ! [Laughter.] Yes, Lane of Oregon voted, on the 25th of 
last May, that slavery did not need protection in the Territories. 
Now, he will get up and tell the American people and the Senate 
that he is for a State seceding, and for breaking up the Government, 
because they cannot get what he swore they did not need. [Laugh- 
ter.] That is what I call putting the nail through." [Laughter in 
the galleries.] 

In this debate there occurs two sketches of character, 
both of which we know from history to be truthful. Be- 
sides the striking individuality of each, the powerful con- 
trast between them carries with it a lesson as suggestive. 
In reply to a sneering allusion from Jeff. Davis, Johnson, 
exhibiting the trusting and trustful confidence mutually 
existing between himself and the people of Tennessee, 
presented a firmly drawn outline of his nature and career, 
his past fortune, his present fortitude, and his faith for the 
future : " Thank God there is too much good sense and 
intelligence in the country to put down any man by an 
innuendo or side remark like that. But, sir, so far as the 
people whom I have the honor in part to represent are con- 
cerned, I stand above the innuendos of that kind. They 
have known me from my boyhood up. They understand 
my doctrines and my principles, in private and in public 
life. They have tried me in every position in which it was 
in their power to place a public servant, and they, to-day, 
will not say that Andrew Johnson ever deceived or be- 
trayed them. In a public life of twenty-five years, they 
have never deserted or betrayed me ; and, God willing, I 
will never desert or betray them. The great mass of the 
people of Tennessee know that I am for them ; they know 
that I have advocated those great principles and doctrines 



230 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

upon which the perpetuity of this Government depends ; 
they know that I have periled my all, pecuniarily and 
physically, in vindication of their rights and their interests. 
Little innuendoes, thrown off in snarling moods, fall harm- 
less at my feet." 

The other sketch is of Jeff. Davis, the terrible depth of 
whose treason is made all the more crushing in the free 
acknowledgment of the education conferred by, and the 
honors won in the service of the United States : " When I 
consider his early education ; when I look at his gallant 
services, finding him first in the military school of the 
United States, educated by his Government, taught the 
science of war at the expense of his country — taught to 
love the principles of the Constitution ; afterward entering 
its service, fighting beneath the ' Stars and Stripes' to which 
he has so handsomely alluded, winning laurels that are green 
and imperishable, and bearing upon his person scars that 
are honorable ; some of which have been won at home : 
others of which have been won in a foreign clime, and upon 
other fields, I would be the last man to pluck a feather from 
his cap or a single gem from the chaplet that encircles his 
brow. But when I consider his early associations ; when I 
remember that he was nurtured by this Government ; that 
he fought for this Government ; that he won honors under 
the flag of this Government, I cannot understand how he 
can be willing to hail another banner, and turn from that 
of his country, under which he has won laurels and received 
honors. This is a matter of taste, however ; but it seems 
to me that, if I could not unsheath my sword in vindication 
of the flag of my country, its glorious ' Stars and Stripes/ I 
would return the sword to its scabbard ; I would never 
sheathe it in the bosom of my mother ; never ! never I" 

The closing scene of the debate (March 2) was one to be 
long remembered, when Johnson, briefly but powerfully 
replying to Lane, exclaimed : " I will now present a fair 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 231 

issue, and hope it will be fairly met. Show me who has 
been engaged in these conspiracies ; show me who lias been 
engaged in these nightly and secret conclaves plotting the 
overthrow of the Government ; show me who has fired upon 
our flag, lias given instructions to take our forts and our 
custom houses, our arsenals and our dockyards, and I will 
show you a traitor 1" [Applause in the galleries.] 

"The Presiding Officer (Mr. Polk in the chair). — The Sergeant- 
at-Arins will clear the galleries, on the right of the Chair imme- 
diately. 

" Mr. Johnson of Tennessee. — That is a fair proposition 

"The Presiding Officer. — The Senator from Tennessee will 
pause until the order of the Chair is executed. 

[Here a long debate ensued upon questions of order, and 
the propriety of clearing the galleries.] 

" Mr. Johnson of Tennessee. — I hope the execution of the order 
will be suspended, and I will go security for the gallery that they 
will not applaud any more. I should have been nearly through my 
remarks by this time but for this interruption. 

[The presiding officer here announced that the order 
for clearing the galleries would be suspended.] 

" Mr. President," continued Senator Johnson, " when I was inter- 
rupted by a motion to clear the galleries, I was making a general 
allusion to treason as denned in the Constitution of the United 
States, and to those who were traitors and guilty of treason within 
the scope and meaning of the law and the Constitution. My propo- 
sition was, that if they would show me who were guilty of the 
offenses I have enumerated, I would show them who were the 
traitors. That being done, were I the President of the United 
States, I would do as Thomas Jefferson did in 1806 with Aaron 
Burr, who was charged with treason. I would have them arrested 
and tried for treason, and, if convicted, by the Eternal God, they 
should suffer the penalty of the law at the hands of the executioner." 

Order was several times invaded by the enthusiasm 
evoked by the patriotism of the speaker, and as he sat 
down, the spectators in the densely crowded galleries rose 



232 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

in order to leave, when, after the lapse of a few seconds, a 
faint cheer, followed by the clapping of a single pair of 
hands, was raised in the southern corner of the ladies' 
gallery. This was hesitatingly imitated by two or three 
persons further on in the south range of the same gallery, 
but instantaneously gathering strength, it lighted up the 
enthusiasm of the packed galleries in the west and north- 
west quarters, and a tremendous outburst of applause, put- 
ting to silence the powerful blows from the hammer of the 
presiding officer, succeeded. Three cheers were given for 
the Union and three for Andrew Johnson of Tennessee ; 
and as by this time the Senators on the floor gave the 
strongest token of indignation and outraged dignity, the 
retreating crowd uttered a shower of hisses. Altogether 
the exhibition was the most vociferous and unrepressed 
that has ever taken place in the galleries of either House 
of Congress.* 

It was said of Chatham that his eloquence was an era in 
the Senate, and Robert Bell, in his " Life of Canning," 
adopts the phrase in recounting the effect of that states- 
man's speech defending his aid to the South American Repub- 
lics. With still greater and more suitable force might it be 
applied to Johnson's speeches in this debate. They truly 
created an " era in the Senate." The theme was infinitely 
grander than that which inspired Canning. Its treatment 
was characteristically more powerful; and well might a 
Californian Senator say that nothing could be added to his 
lucid exposition of the fallacy of secession. Canning was a 
finished orator and dialectician, and his remarkable speech 
is strikingly eloquent, as well by its style as the audacity 
of the conception announced in it. Johnson's is powerful 
from the intense patriotism hurled upon the heads of the 
delinquent Senators, and the simply glorious expression of 
national faith which lights up his heart and nerves his arm 

* National Intelligencer, March 4, 18G1. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 233 

for the defense of the Republic. Yet, what a member of the 
Commons, enthusiastically carried away by Canning's periods 
said, can be well adopted in a calm and dispassionate re- 
vie wal of the delivery and effect of Johnson's speeches 
during this debate on the state of the Union : " It was an 
epoch in a man's life to have heard him. I shall never for- 
get the deep moral earnestness of his tone, and the blaze 
of glory that seemed to light up his features when he spoke 

all the while a serenity sat on his brow that pointed 

to deeds of glory." 



CHAPTER XV. 



TERRORISM IN TENNESSEE. 

The People of Tennessee Vote against a State Convention on Secession — The 
Legislature in Secret Session enter into a Military League with the Rebel 
Government — The Ordinance of Secession to be Voted on under an Atro- 
cious Terrorism — Rebel Soldiers Raised and Taxes Levied without Law — 
Union Men Hunted out of the State — Horrible Tyranny — Secessionists' 
hatred of Johnson — Indignities offered to him — Assailed in the Railway 
Cars, meets the Ruffians — Attends the Union Convention in East Tennes- 
see — Fine Reception and Speech in Cincinnati — The Abominable Doctrine 
of Secession to be Totally Annihilated — The Difficulties not the result of 
Local Animosity — Government or no Government — Affairs in Tennessee 

— Bound Hand and Foot by the Rebels — Gallant Stand by Union Men — 
Johnson speaks in the Senate after the Battle of Bull Run — Ordeals through 
which a Nation must pass — No Compromise with Armed Traitors — Rebel 
tendency to One-man Power — " Harris a king and Baugh a Despot" — Let 
the Battle go on — Supports the Resolution to Expel Jesse D. Bright from 
the Senate — Bright a Satrap of the South — Bright and the Oath of Office 

— Clingman's Compliment to Johnson. 

Notwithstanding the attempt to popularize the aims of 
" the great Southern party" in Tennessee, and to commit 
it into an apparent consideration of the secession question, 
the people, by an overwhelming vote, decided not to hold 
a State Convention. In the face of this popular determina- 
tion, the Governor, Isham G. Harris, convened the Legisla- 
ture, which, in extraordinary and secret session, on the 1st 
of May passed a joint resolution authorizing the Governor 
to enter into a military league with the rebel government. 
On the 6th it also passed an act to submit for ratification 
or rejection, " a declaration of independence and ordinance 
dissolving the Federal relation between the State of Ten- 
nessee and the United States of America." Eastern 
Tennessee, bordering on the Alleghany mountains, was, like 

(234) 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 235 

Western Virginia, thoroughly devoted to the Union. The 
pretended submission of the declaration and ordinance was 
the greatest mockery. The terrorism in the State was of 
the most atrocious nature. 

The Legislature, in secret session, without waiting for the 
people to vote upon the ordinance of secession, or even to 
read it, proceeded at once without even tlie pretense of 
popular or any other authority to place the whole power 
and military resources of the State at the disposal of the 
" Southern Confederacy," and invited the armies of that 
Confederacy upon Tennessee soil, thus putting it out of the 
power of the Tennessee people to exercise through the bal- 
lot-box or any other way, the slightest discretion or liberty 
of choice in deciding what their State should or should not 
do. After the secret passage of the ordinance the disunion 
leaders devoted themselves to the raising of troops, mar- 
shaling them into the " Confederate" service, and without form 
or pretext of law, levied monstrous taxes for their support. 
It was obvious that in such a state of affairs the " popular 
vote " which the leaders, for the sake of appearances, were 
determined to have in their favor, could have no meaning 
whatever. By the machinery of mobs and vigilance com- 
mittees dcxtrously worked, they expelled by night and day 
thousands of bold and true Union men from all parts of the 
State. They muzzled the editors, manufactured public 
opinion by holding meetings, and giving notice to the cham- 
pions of the country who had hitherto swayed and moulded 
the popular mind, that their lives would pay the penalty of 
advocating the Union. It was universally proclaimed that 
every voter on going to the poll should expose his ballot to 
the bystanders, " the plan being to beat, or maim, or kill all 
who should have the audacity to vote for the Union." " We 
have seen scores of the best men of Tennessee," said a compe- 
tent authority writing at the time.*" within the last few days, 

* Louisville {K>j.) Journal, rdited by G. D. Prentice. 



236 LIFE AND P UBLIG SEE VICES 

and they all bear witness that, in their belief, the reign of 
terror now raging and maddening in that State, has had no 
parallel in modern history. There is less of personal 
freedom, there is more of atrocious and horrible tyranny in 
Tennessee at this time than could be found under the worst 
and most wretched governments of Asia or the savage 
islands of the sea." 

• The tone of Johnson's speeches of course drew upon the 
speaker all the ire of the secessionists, and many efforts 
were made in the South to show that he had no sympathy 
in that region. He however fearlessly proceeded home- 
ward. Passing through Lynchburg, a large crowd assem- 
bled, groaned and hissed at him. At Liberty, in the 
same State, it is said the mob was for going to greater ex- 
tremities with him. He was assailed on a Sunday in the 
railway cars by an infuriated rebel mob, and only escaped 
their mad vengeance by the prompt courage which has sus- 
tained him through life in every emergency. Pistol in 
hand he met and appalled the ruffians, following up his ad- 
vantage by driving them back ; while his own life, as well 
as the lives of some of those who attempted his assassina- 
tion, were saved by the presence of the ladies traveling with 
him. 

But his persecutions did not stop here. In his own State 
and elsewhere in the South, after the frenzy of rebellion had 
fairly seized the public mind, he was, in Knoxville, Nash- 
ville, Memphis, and various other points of less note, hung and 
shot in effigy, and every insult and indignity offered to Ins 
name that a maddened populace could impose. Some pa- 
pers in Tennessee, under traitor control, regarded the an- 
nouncement that Andrew Johnson would make his appear- 
ance at the head of a Union " Lincoln force " as a delusion. 
Johnson, however, was not to be deterred. At the East 
Tennessee Union Convention. May 30, at Cincinnati, in 
June, and again in the Senate in the extra session succeeding 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON". 237 

the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln — at all places where it was 
necessary, his trumpet tones proclaimed the glory of the 
Union cause and the infamy of treason. 

At Cincinnati, on June 19, Senator Johnson was wel- 
comed by the people in not only unmistakable but enthusi- 
astic terms of approval. He arrived without any idea or 
expectation that such a reception was in store for him, and 
the effect was such, after the indignities which had been 
heaped upon him by disloyalists that he was almost over- 
powered, and for a time felt that he could not express him- 
self. He had words, but not such as could give atterancc 
to his feelings. He was inspired, however, by the knowledge 
that the cordiality and sympathy extended to him by the 
men of Ohio, was heartfelt and sincere. Thanking the as- 
semblage for their kind welcome and their welcome sympa- 
thy, he declared that, while he was a citizen of a Southern 
State, lie was also a citizen of the United States, and in the 
latter position he was willing to abide by its Constitution. 
He was proud to hear what had been said in reference to 
the relations existing between the sections, and " the pend- 
ing difficulties which are now upon the country, do not grow 
out of any animosity to the local institutions of any section." 

" I am glad to be assured that it grows out of a determination to 
maintain the glorious principles upon which the Government itself 
rests — the principles contained in the Constitution — and, at the same 
time, to rebuke and to bring back, as far as may be practicable, 
within the pale of the Constitution, those individuals, or States 
even, who have taken it upon themselves to exercise a principle and 
doctrine at war with all government, with all association — political, 
moral and religious. I mean the doctrine of secession, which is 
neither more nor less than a heresy, a fundamental error, a political 
absurdity, coming in conflict with all organized government, with 
every thing that tends to preserve law and order in the United 
States, or wherever else the odious and abominable doctrine may be 
attempted to be exercised. I look upon the doctrine of secession 
as coming in conflict with all organism, moral and social. I repeat, 
without regard to the peculiar institutions of the respective States 



238 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

composing this confederacy; without regard to any Government 
that may be founded in the future, or exists in the present, this 
odious doctrine of secession should be crushed out, destroyed, and 
totally annihilated. No Government can stand ; no religious, or 
moral, or social organizations can stand where this doctrine is tole- 
rated. It is disintegration — universal dissolvement —in making war 
upon every thing that has a tendency to promote and ameliorate the 
condition of the mass of mankind. Therefore, I repeat, that this 
odious and abominable doctrine — you must pardon me for using a 
strong expression — I do not say it iu a profane sense — but this doc- 
trine I conceive to be — hcll-bom and hell-bound, and one which will 
carry every thing in its train, unless it is arrested and crushed out 
from our midst." 

Laying his hand upon his breast, and pledging himself 
by its truth and honor, lie said he felt gratified at hearing 
the sentiments that had been uttered, that all were willing 
to stand up for the constitutional rights guaranteed to every 
State and citizens of States composing one grand confede- 
racy, whether we belonged to the North or the South, or 
the East or the West. He regarded these sentiments as 
conclusive evidence that " there was no disposition on the 
part of any citizens of the loyal States to make war upon 
any peculiar institution of the South, whether it be slavery 
or any thing else — leaving that institution under the Con- 
stitution, to be controlled by time, circumstances and the 
great laws which lie at the foundation of all things which 
political legislation can control." This declaration was 
frequently interrupted by applause. Justifying his posi- 
tion in the United States Senate, he said : 

" I believe that a Government without the power to enforce its 
laws, made in conformity with the Constitution, is no Government 
at all. We have arrived at that period in our national history at 
which it has become necessary for this Government to say to the 
civilized, as well as to the Pagan world, whether it is in reality a 
Government, or whether it is a pretext for a Government. If it has 
power to preserve its existence, and to maintain the principles of the 
Constitution and the laws, that time has now arrived. If it is a 






OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 039 

Government, that authority should be asserted. I say then, let the 
civilized world see that we have a Government. Let us dispel the 
delusion under which we have been laboring since the inauguration 
of the Government in 1789 — let us show that it is not an ephemeral 
institution ; that we have not merely imagined we had a Govern- 
ment, and when the test came, that the Government frittered away 
between our fingers and quickly faded in the distance. The time 
has come when the Government reared by our fathers should assert 
itself, and give conclusive proof to the civilized world that it is a 
reality and a perpetuity. Let us show to other nations that this 
doctrine of secession is a heresy ; that States coming into the Con- 
federacy, that individuals living in the Confederacy, under the 
Constitution have no right nor authority, upon their own volition, 
to set the laws and the Constitution aside, and to bid defiance to the 
authority of the Government under which they rive." 

Senator Johnson conscientiously believed that all the 
candidates and parties in the previous Presidential canvass 
were all in favor of the Union ; but now all party divisions 
should be obliterated and the great question of Union and 
Constitution alone come up. It was to him a sublime ques- 
tion and purpose, and as a supporter and upholder of the 
nation's flag, he was proud to hear the vast concourse that 
surrounded him, declare they desired to co-operate for the 
consummation of the Union without regard to former party 
difference. He then devoted his address to a brief recital 
of the position of affairs in Tennessee, and conveyed a brief 
but comprehensive view of Union necessities and rebel ter- 
rorism in that State. 

" No longer ago than last February there was an extra session of the 
Legislature called. There was then a law passed authorizing a Con- 
vention to be called. The people of that State voted it down by a 
majority of sixty-four thousand. 

" In a very short time afterward, another session of the Legislature 
was called. This Legislature went into secret session in a very short 
time. While the Southern Confederacy, or its agents, had access to 
it, and were put in possession of the doings and proceedings of this 
secret session, the great mass of my own State were not permitted 
even to put their ears to the keyhole, or to look through a crevice in 
the doors, to ascertain what was being done. A league with the 



240 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Southern Confederacy has been formed, and the State has been handed 
over to the Southern Confederacy, with Jefferson Davis at its head. 
We, the people of Tennessee, have been handed over to this con- 
federacy, I say, like sheep in the shambles, bound hand and foot, to 
be disposed of as Jefferson Davis and his cohorts may think proper. 
This ordinance was passed by the Convention with a proviso that it 
should be submitted to the people. The Governor was authorized to 
raise fifty-five thousand men. Money was appropriated to enable him j 
to carry out this diabolical and nefarious scheme, depriving the peo- 
ple of their rights, disposing of them as stock in the market — handing 
them over body and soul, to the Southern Confederacy. 

" Xow you may talk about slaves and slavery, but in most instances 
when a slave changes his master, even he has the privilege of choos- 
ing whom he desires for his next master ; but in this instance the 
sovereign people of a free State have not been allowed the power or 
2>rivilege of choosing the master they desired to serve. They have 
been given a master without their consent or advice. No trouble 
was taken to ascertain what their desires were — they were at once 
handed over to this Southern Confederacy." 

East Tennessee, however, had repudiated the secession 
ordinance by a large majority, and Johnson pledged that 
they would remain firm in their contemptuous opposition. 
He also referred to Isham Harris' refusal of arms to East 
Tennessee unless the people pledged themselves to do the 
bidding of the State Government, and followed up with a 
picture of the gallant stand made by the Union men in the 
face of outlawry and persecution. 

" But while this contest has been going on, a portion of our fellow- 
citizens have been standing up for the Constitution and the Union, 
and because they have dared to stand upon the great embattlement 
of constitutional liberties, exercising the freedom and the liberty of 
speech, a portion of our people have declared that we are traitors ; 
they have said that our fate was to be the fate of traitors ; and that 
hemp was growing, and that the day of our execution was approach- 
ing — that the time would come when those who dare stand by the 
Constitution and the principles therein embraced, would exjnate 
their deeds upon the gallows. We have met all these things. We 
have met them in open day. We have met them face to face — toe 
to toe — at least in one portion of the State. We have told them 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS ON. 2 4 1 

that the Constitution of tlie United States defines treason, and that 
definition is, that treason against the United States shall consist 
only in levying war against the General Government of the United 
States. We have told them that the time would come when the 
principles of the Constitution, and the law defining treason would 
be maintained. We have told them that the time would come when 
the judiciary of the Government would be sustained in such a man- 
ner that it could define what was treason under the Constitution 
and the law made in conformity with it, and that when defined, 
they would ascertain who were the traitors, and who it was that 
would stretch the hemp they had prepared for us. 

" I know that in reference to myself and others, rewards have been 
offered, and it has been Baid that warrants have been issued for our 
arrest. Let me say to you here to-day, that I am no fugitive, espe- 
cially no fugitive from justice. If I were a fugitive, I would be a 
fugitive from tyranny — a fugitive from the reign of terror. But, 
thank God, the country in which I live, and that division of the 
State from which I hail, will record a vote of twenty-five thousand 
against the secession ordinance. The county in which I live, gave a 
majority of two thousand and seven against, this odious, diabolical, 
nefarious, hell-born and hell-bound doctrine." 

When the loyal States were staggering under the effects 
of the rebel reinforcements at the battle of Bull Run, the 
voice of Senator Johnson again arose in clarion tones of 
hope. Full of life, faith and glory in his cause, his words 
were like trumpet blasts re forming the army and re-awaken- 
ing and re- nerving the people for the struggle. When he 
returned, after adding the force of his indorsement to the 
gallant stand made by his co-patriots in East Tennessee, to 
attend the extra session at Washington, it was not his inten- 
tion to engage in any discussion ; but the first great battle 
of the war took place, and lie arose with the exigency. He 
was not bowed down. He never is. Obstacles but invite 
his energy, and danger is only the touchstone to his cour- 
age. . He believed that every great people must pass through 
three^ periods. First it was to pass through the ordeal of 
gaining independence. Ours was a severe and successful 
seven years' war of revolution. Second, after achieving in- 
16 



242 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

dependence, a nation must show its ability to maintain that 
position against all foreign foes. This we achieved in the 
war of 1812-15. Third, a nation has to contend against 
internal foes — those who have no confidence in its integrity, 
or in the institutions that may be established under its 
organic law. We were then in the midst of that ordeal. 
" The problem being solved was whether we can succeed in 
maintaining ourselves against the internal foes of the Gov- 
ernment." Johnson thought the question fairly stated in 
President Lincoln's recent message, that it was " essentially 
a people's contest." A Georgian Senator once said. " When 
traitors become numerous enough treason will become re- 
spectable." Notwithstanding Johnson thought that such 
respectability was on the increase, still, God being willing, 
he was for waging war on traitors and treason, whether the 
former be few or many. This sentiment was applauded by 
the galleries, which drew a call of order from the presiding 
officer, after which Johnson said : " We are in the midst 
of civil war ; blood has been shed ; life lias been sacrificed. 
Traitors and rebels are standing with arms in their hands ; 
it is said we must go forward and compromise with them. 
They are in the wrong ; they are making war upon the 
Government ; they arc trying to upturn and destroy our free 
institutions. I say to them that the compromise I have to 
make to them under the existing circumstances is, ' Ground 
your arms ; obey the laws ; acknowledge the supremacy of 
the Constitution — when you do that, I will talk to you about 
compromises.' " A " constitutional monarchy" had been co- 
cxtensively mooted in the South, with the declaration that 
our republican government had failed. Senator Johnson 
made various references in point, and flung back the trepida- 
tion of Senator Powell of Kentucky, who was wonderfully 
alarmed at the idea of making the President a " dictator." 
by giving him power sufficient to suppress the Rebellion, with 
some extracts from the Richmond and other Southern papers, 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 243 

showing the purposes of the traitors. The Whig, Examiner, 
and the speeches of the leaders unmistakably pointed to a 
change in the character of the Government. He read an 
article from the Memphis Bulletin showing that under the 
reign of terror things had got beyond their control, and the 
cry was for " one ruling power to which all others must 
yield." In its dire extremity the Tennessee paper said, " Let 
Governor Harris be king if need be and Baugh a despot," 
which text Senator Johnson improved on : 

" ' Let Governor Harris be king, and Baugli a despot,' says the 
Bullet In. Who is Baugh ? The Mayor of Memphis. The mob reign 
of terror gotten up under this doctrine of secession is so great that 
we find that they are appealing to the one-man power. They are 
even willing to make the Mayor of the city a despot, and Isham G. 
Harris, a little petty Governor of Tennessee, a king. He is to be 
made king over the State that contains the bones of the immortal, 
the illustrious Jackson. Isham G. Harris a king ! Or Jeff. Davis a 
dictator, and Isham G. Harris one of his satraps ! He a king over 
the free and patriotic people of Tennessee ! Isham G. Harris to be 
my king ! Yes, sir, my king ! I know the man. I know his ele- 
ments. I know the ingredients that constitute the compound called 
Isham G. Harris. King Harris to be my master, and the master of 
the people that I have the proud and conscious satisfaction of repre- 
senting on this floor ! Mr. President, he should not be my slave ! 
[Applause in the galleries.]" 

He claimed the protection of the Government for East 
Tennessee. "If two-thirds have fallen off," he cried, "or 
have been sunk by an earthquake, it does not change our 
relation to this Government. If we had ten thousand stand 
of arms and ammunition when the contest commenced, we 
should have asked no further assistance." He believed in 
ultimate triumph. Even though he may not always see his 
way clearly, yet, as in matters of religion, when facts give 
out, he draws upon his faith. " My faitli is strong," he says, 
" based on the eternal principles of right, that a thing so 
monstrously wrong as this rebellion cannot triumph ;" and 
in this spirit he exclaims, " Let the battle go on — it is free- 



244 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

dom's cause — until the Stars and Stripes (God bless tlicm) 
sliall again be unfurled upon every cross-road, and from 
every house-top throughout the confederacy. North and 
South. " Let the Union be reinstated ; let the law be en- 
forced ; let the Constitution be supreme/ 7 In the same 
reliable confidence in the popular appreciation of the Gov- 
ernment which sheds such blessings over all, he predicted 
the electric movement all over the North to succor the Re- 
public. " There will be an uprising. Do not talk about 
Republicans now ; do not talk about Democrats now ; do 
not talk about Whigs or Americans now ; talk about your 
country, and the Constitution, and the Union. Save that, 
preserve the integrity of the Government ; once more place 
it erect among the nations of the earth ; and then, if we 
want to divide about questions that may arise in our midst, 
we have a Government to divide in." He denied that the 
object of the movement was war on Southern institutions. 
The idea was denied both in free States and slave States. 
" It was," said lie, ;i a war for the integrity of the Union ;" and 
with this design filling his mind, concluded thus manfully : 

" Although the Government has met with a little reverse within a 
short distance of this city, no one should be discouraged and no 
heart should be dismayed. It ought only to prove the necessity of 
bringing forth and exerting still more vigorously the power of the 
Government in maintenance of the Constitution and the laws. Let 
the energies of the Government be redoubled, and let it go on with 
this war — not a war upon sections, not a war upon peculiar institu- 
tions any where ; but let the Constitution and the Union be its front- 
ispiece, and the supremacy and enforcement of the laws its watch- 
word. Then it can, it will, go on triumphantly. We must sua 
This Government must not, cannot fail. Though your flag may have 
trailed in the dust ; though a retrograde movement may have been 
made ; though the banner of our country may have been sullied, let 
it still be borne onward; and if, for the prosecution of this war in 
behalf of the Government and the Constitution, it is necessary to 
cleanse and purify that banner, I say let it be baptized in fire from 
the sun and bathed in a nation's blood! The nation must be re- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 245 

deemed ; it must be triumphant. The Constitution — which is based 
upon principles immutable, and upon which rest the rights of man 
and the hopes and expectations of those who love freedom through- 
out the civilized world— must be maintained." 

On the lGth December, 1861, Senator Wilkinson of Min- 
nesota submitted a resolution for the expulsion of Jesse D. 
Bright of Indiana from his seat in the Senate of the United 
States, based on a letter from Bright introducing one Thomas 
B. Lincoln to Jefferson Davis as a person who had an im- 
provement in fire arms to dispose of. The Committee on the 
Judiciary reported adversely on the resolution, and on the 
31st of January following, Senator Johnson addressed the 
Senate on the subject, and in favor of the resolution. He 
disclaimed any personal or party feelings in the course he 
pursued. A few years previous the seat of Mr. Bright was 
contested, and Senator Johnson voted to admit him. He 
was now impelled by an imperative sense of public duty to 
vote for his expulsion. Bright was one of those Northern 
members of Congress who were bound hand and foot by 
their affiliations with Southern politicians. He had Presi- 
dential aspirations, and thought to further them by making 
himself useful to the party managers from the South. He 
followed in the wake of Mr. Buchanan, and bent the knee 
to the conspirators. The letter of introduction upon which 
the resolution of expulsion was based, shows how far Mr. 
Bright departed from the line of manly duty. After the 
rebels had fired on the flag, taken forts, custom houses and 
post offices of the United States, he gives a character to a 
"friend" who is desirous of selling an improvement in arms 
to be used against the country of which he is a Senator. 
He was as ready for rebel use after war had been inaugu- 
rated against the Union as he had been when they were only 
making war on Douglas He stood in the position of putting 
arms into the hands of the rebels against his countrv. After 
he had written the note to Davis, in which he addressed him 



210 LIFE OF ANDREW JOLTNSOX. 

as "his Excellency," and "President of the Confederation of 
States," his bearing was equally antagonistic to the Union. It 
was not unobserved by Johnson. Sometimes we can see much 
more than is expressed. It is not necessary that a man's sen- 
timents should be written in burning characters before we 
are able to judge what they are. " Has it not been observable 
all through this history where the true Union heart has 
stood ? What was the Senator's bearing at the last session 
of Congress ? Do we not know that in the main he stood 
here opposed substantially to every measure which was 
necessary to sustain the Government in its trial and peril. 

He may, perhaps," added Senator Johnson, " have voted for 
some measures that were collateral, remote, indirect in their 
bearing ; but do we not know that his vote and his influence 
were cast against the measures which were absolutely neces- 
sary to sustain the Government in its hour of peril." Com- 
menting on Mr. Bright's opposition to the coercion policy, 
Senator Johnson said : 

" We may as well be honest and fair, and admit the truth of the 
great proposition, that a Government cannot exist — in other words — 
it is no Government if it is without the power to enforce its laws 
and coerce obedience to them. That is all there is of it ; and the 
very instant you take that power from this Government it is at an 
end ; it is a mere rope of sand that will fall to pieces of its own weight. 
It is idle, Utopian, chimerical, to talk about a Government existing 
without the power to enforce its laws. The Constitution says, ' that 
Congress shall have the power to provide for calling forth the militia 
to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection and rebel 
invasion,' etc. 

" Can you expect your brave men, officers and soldiers, that 

are now in the tented field subject to all the hardships and privations 
peculiar to a civil war like this, to have courage and march on with 
patriotism to crush treason on every battle-field, when you have not 
the courage to expel it from your midst ? Set those brave men an 
example. Say to them by your acts and voice that you evidence 
your intention to put down traitors in the field by ejecting them 
from your midst without regard to former associations. 

" But let us go on : let us encourage the Army and Navy ; 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOUXSON. 247 

let ns vote the men and means necessary to vitalize and bring into re- 
quisition the enforcing and coercive power of the Government ; let 
us crush out the rebellion and anxiously look forward to the day — 
God grant it may come soon — when the baleful comet of fire and 
of blood that now hovers over this distracted people may be chased 
away by the benignant star of peace. Let us look forward to the 
time when we can take the flag of our country and nail it below the 
cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let 
us gather around it aud inscribe for our motto, ' Liberty and Union, 
one and inseparable, now and for ever,' and exclaim, ' Christ first, 
our country next !' " 

He knew no party ; lie knew no party feelings ; no past 
associations ; no present exigency but that which threat- 
ened the Republic, and lie knew them but to oppose them 
with all his strength. As the oldest Senator present when 
Johnson made his debut in the Chamber, Bright, had ten- 
dered the oath of office to him. With a high sense of that 
oath and the duties imposed by it, the Senator who then 
took it now advocated the expulsion of the Senator who 
administered and had since broken it. Bright, who was 
simply a politician, probably regarded the oath as a mere 
formula. Johnson, an upright patriot, received it with a 
conscientious sense of obligation which should guide and 
guard his action. This relation between Bright and John- 
son in the Senate calls to mind another but of a different 
character. On Johnson's appearance in the House of Rep- 
resentatives he first crossed swords with Clingman of North 
Carolina, and uttered the gallant defense of the Catholics 
referred to in a previous chapter. Both had been promoted 
into the Senate, and in 1860, Clingman, regarding John- 
son as a probable candidate for the Presidency, spoke of 
him as " a gentleman whose talents and energy have enabled 
him to overcome the greatest obstacles, and placed him in 
the front rank of the statesmen of the country." 



CHAPTER XVI 



JOHNSON MILITARY GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE. 

Persecution of Union Men in Tennessee — Johnson Appointed Military Gov- 
ernor — Assumes Official Duties — Obstacles in his Way — Proclamation of 
Match 18, 1862 — Able Statement of the Position of Tennessee, Past and 
Present — Mutual Relations between State and Federal Government — Stub- 
bornness of the Rebel Population — The Municipal Council of Nashville Re- 
fuse to take the Oath of Allegiance — Declares the Offices Vacant- 
Dialogue with Rebel Ladies — Military Movements — Mr. S. R. Glenn's 
Diary of the Defense of Nashville — His Reception by Governor Johnson — 
Intercepted Letters — Address to Ohio Troops — Vigorous Measures against 
Ultra Secessionists — " Pouters " — General Maury Banished — Reasons of 
A. II. Stephens for Joining the Rebels — Proclamation of Reprisal for 
Injuries to Unionists — Union Mass Convention in Nashville — Governor 
Johnson's Address — Profound Sensation and Enthusiasm — The Governor 
Addresses the Blue-Coats and Butternuts at Murfreesboro' — A Midnight 
Alarm — The Governor "aBaif'for Morgan's Men — Spirited Speech to 
Michigan and Minnesota Soldiers — " Hallelujah !" — Union Meetings at Col- 
umbia and Shelbyville — Speech of a Converted Separationist — Guerilla 
Brutalities — Narrow Escape of Johnson. 

In the latter part of 1861 and early in the spring of 
1862, the rebel persecutions on Union men in East Tennessee 
became so oppressive that thousands of the latter were 
driven from the State, and obliged to seek refuge in Ken- 
tucky. Driven hurriedly from home, they could carry with 
them little or nothing save the clothes they wore. The 
inclemency of the weather incident to the season found them 
in the most deplorable condition — without money, without 
employment, and in many instances without clothing or food — 
refugees from home, wandering from house to house ; sick 
and broken down in the midst of a proud and haughty popula- 
tion that cared little for their persecutions at home or 
(248) 



OF AXDREW JOIINSOK 249 

privations abroad, and less for the cause they had so nobly 
espoused. 

In this condition Senator Johnson met them in Ken- 
tucky, and generously, out of his private means and through 
his influence with the Government of the United States, re- 
lieved their wants, and, as far as practicable, alleviated 
their sufferings. Through his influence Camp Dick Robin- 
son was established by General William Nelson, which at 
once became the refugees' home. They were there fed and 
clothed ; and in sickness sheltered from the pitiless storms. 
Finally they were organized into companies and regiments, 
and incorporated into the armies of the Union, whence they 
entered the great strife, and have since won, on many an 
ensanguined field, immortal honors, which will crown East 
Tennesseeans with everlasting fame. 

On the 4th of March 1862, President Lincoln nominated 
and the Senate confirmed Senator Johnson as Military Gover- 
nor of Tennessee with the rank of Brigadier General. 
About the 12th of the same month he reached the city of 
Nashville and assumed the arduous and perplexing duties of 
his office, and at once proceeded to organize a provincial 
government for the State. The city had then been only re- 
cently evacuated (on the 23d of February) by the rebel 
troops, and occupied (on the 25th) by the Federal forces. 
The rebel State Government moved to Memphis ; the rebel 
army still lingered in the State a short distance from Nash- 
ville, and the rebel population excited and chagrined at their 
defeat, confidently expected the speedy return of their 
friends, and the repulse and overthrow of the Union army 
in the State. Every indignity was offered to the Governor 
that wounded pride, hatred and malice could invent. Every 
possible obstacle was thrown in the way of an easy admin- 
istration of the affairs of the State. Most of the Union 
men in the city also had been fearful of the rebel army in 
Tennessee. Tims left without support, sympathy or en- 
11* 



250 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

couragemeut, Governor Johnson had to uphold the State 
authority by his single hand. Appalled by no threats, and 
shrinking from no responsibility, he went steadily forward 
in the discharge of his duties, and on the 18th of March, 
issued the following proclamation, which attracted ex- 
tended notice at the time. The loftiness of its tone, eleva- 
tion of sentiment, and calm, earnest, persuasive eloquence, 
signalize it as the best, as it certainly was one of the most 
important documents which had been called out by the 
crisis. It was regarded as peculiarly important as indicating 
the policy determined on by the Government towards the 
rebellious States, in the event of the reassertion over them 
of the National authority. 

" Fellow Citizens : Tennessee assumed the form of a body poli- 
tic as one of the United States of America in the year 17CG, at once 
entitled to all the privileges of the Federal Constitution and bound 
by all its obligations. For nearly sixty-five years she continued in 
the enjoyment of all her rights and in the performance of all her 
duties one of the most loyal and devoted of the sisterhood of States. 
She has been honored by the elevation of two of her citizens to the 
highest place in the gift of the American people, and a third had 
been nominated for the same high office, who received a liberal 
though ineffective support. Her population had largely and rapidly 
increased, and their moral and material interests correspondingly ad- 
vanced. Never was a people more prosperous, contented and happy 
than the people of Tennessee under the Government of the United 
States, and none less burdened for the support of the authority by 
which they were protected. They felt their Government only in 
the conscious enjoyment of the benefits it conferred and the blessings 
it bestowed. 

Such was our enviable condition until within the year past, when, 
under what baneful influences it is not now my purpose to inquire, 
the authority of the Government was set at defiance, and the Consti- 
tution and laws contemned by a rebellious armed force. Men who, 
in addition to the ordinary privileges and duties of the citizen, had 
enjoyed largely the bounty and official patronage of the Govern- 
ment, and had by repeated oaths, obligated themselves to its sup- 
port, with sudden ingratitude for the bounty and disregard for their 
solemn obligation, engaged, deliberately and ostentatiously, in the 



OF ANDREW JOUXSOX. 251 

accomplishment of its overthrow. Many accustomed to defer to 
their opinions and to accept their guidance, and others carried away 
by excitement or overawed by seditious clamor, arrayed themselves 
under their banners, thus organizing a treasonable power which, for 
the time being, stifled and suppressed the authority of the Federal 
Government. 

" In this condition of affairs it devolved upon the President, bound 
by his official oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, 
and charged by the law with the duty of suppressing insurrection 
and domestic violence, to resist and repel this rebellious force by the 
military arm of the Government, and thus to re-establish the Fede- 
ral authority. Congress, assembling at an early day, found him en- 
gaged in the active discharge of his momentous and responsible 
trust. That body came promptly to his aid, and while supplying 
him with treasure and arms to an extent that would previously have 
been considered fabulous, they, at the same time, with almost abso- 
lute unanimity declared, ' that this war is not waged on their part 
in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or sub- 
jugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights 
or established institutions of these States, but to defend and main- 
tain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union 
with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unim- 
paired ; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war 
ought to cease.' In this spirit and by such co-operation has the 
President conducted this mighty contest, until, as Commander-in- 
Chief of the Army, he has caused the national flag again to float 
undisputed over the ca]3ital of our State. Meanwhile the State 
Government has disappeared. The Executive has abdicated ; the 
Legislature has dissolved ; the Judiciary is in abeyance. The great 
ship of State, freighted with its precious cargo of human interests 
and human hopes, its sails all set and its glorious old flag unfurled, 
has been suddenly abandoned by its officers and mutinous crew, and 
left to float at the mercy of the winds and to be plundered by every 
rover on the deep. Indeed this work of plunder has already com- 
menced. The archives have been desecrated, the public property 
Btolen and destroyed ; the vaults of the State Bank violated, and its 
treasures robbed, including the funds carefully gathered and conse- 
crated for all time to the instruction of our children. 

" In such a lamentable crisis, the Government of the United States 
is not unmindful of its high constitutional obligation to guaran- 
tee to every State in this Union a republican form of government, 
an obligation which every State has a direct and immediate interest 
in having observed towards every other State ; and from which, by 



252 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

no action on part of the people in any State, can the Federal Govern- 
ment be absolved. A republican form of Government in consonance 
with the Constitution of the United States, is one of the fundamental 
conditions of our political existence, by which every part of the 
country is alike bound, and from which no part can escape. This 
obligation the national Government is now attempting to dis- 
charge. I have been appointed, in the absence of the regular and 
established State authorities, as Military Governor for the time be- 
ing, to preserve the public property of the States, to give the pro- 
tection of law actively enforced to her citizens, and as speedily as 
may be to restore her Government to the same condition as before 
the existing rebellion. 

" In this grateful but arduous undertaking I shall avail myself of 
all the aid that may be afforded by my fellow citizens. And for this 
purpose I respectfully but earnestly invite all the people of Tennes- 
see, desirous or willing to see a restoration of her ancient Govern- 
ment, without distinction of party affiliations or past political 
opinions or action, to unite with me by counsel and co-operative 
agency to accomplish this great end. I find most, if not all of the 
offices, both State and Federal, vacated either by actual abandon- 
ment or by the actions of the incumbents in attempting to subordi- 
nate their functions to a power in hostility to the fundamental law 
of the State and subversive of her national allegiance. These offices 
must be filled temporarily until the State shall be restored so far to 
its accustomed quiet that the people can peaceably assemble at the 
ballot-box and select agents of their own choice. Otherwise an- 
archy would prevail, and no man's life or property would be safe 
from the desperate and unprincipled. 

" I shall, therefore, as early as practicable, designate for various posi- 
tions under the State and county governments, from among my fel- 
low citizens, persons of probity and intelligence, and bearing true 
allegiance to the Constitution and Government of the United States, 
who will execute the functions of their respective offices until their 
places be filled by the action of the people. Their authority, when 
their appointments shall have been made, will be accordingly re- 
spected and observed. 

" To the people themselves the protection of the Government is ex- 
tended. All their rights will be duly respected and their wrongs 
redressed when made known. Those who through the dark and 
weary nights of the rebellion have maintained their allegiance to 
the Federal Government will be honored. The erring and misguided 
will be welcomed on their return. And while it may become neces- 
sary in vindicating the violated majesty of the law and re-assert- 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS OX. 2 5 3 

ing its imperial sway to punish intelligent and conscious treason 
in high places, no merely retaliatory or vindictive policy will 
be adopted. To those especially who in a private, unofficial capai 
have assumed an attitude of* hostility to the Government, a full a 
competent amnesty for all past acts and declarations is I, upon 

the one condition of their again yielding themselves peaceful citi- 
zens to the just supremacy of the laws. This I advise them to do 
for their own good and for the peace and welfare of our beloved 
State, endeared to me by the association of long and active years, 
and by the enjoyment of her highest honors. 

" And appealing to my fellow citizens of Tennessee, 1 point you 
to my long public life as a pledge for the sincerity of my motives 
and an earnest for the performance of my present and future duties. 

"Andrew Johnson. 
"Executive Office, Nashville, March 18,18(32." 

But patriotic, forbearing and humane as was this appeal, 
it fell unheeded upon the great mass of the misguided popu- 
lation of the State. They did not yield their opposition to 
the Government and authority of the United States, but 
still clung to the fortunes of the rebel cause, and anxiously 
awaited the return of its armies. During the month of 
March he addressed the people of Nashville, delivering an 
eloquent and impressive discourse on political affairs, 
dwelling mainly upon the Northern views of the war, its 
origin and purposes. He likewise directed a letter to the 
municipal officials of Nashville, requiring them to take the 
oath of allegiance. The Council refused, sixteen to one. 
The former declining on the ground that it was never con- 
templated to take such an oath, and the latter saying he 
would take the oath and resign. Whereupon Governor 
Johnson issued a proclamation declaring vacant the offices 
of Mayor and the City Council who refused to take the 
oath of allegiance to the United States, and appointed other 
persons to serve pro tempore until another election could be 
held. The Nashville Banner tells us of an entertaining 
little dialogue which took place about this time in the 
Governor's office between Governor Johnson and two rebel 



254 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

ladies of that city wlio visited the Governor to complain of 
the occupation of a residence belonging to the rebel hus- 
band of one of them by a United States officer. The con- 
versation was substantially as follows : 

Lady. — I think it is too dreadful for a woman in my 
lonesome condition to have her property exposed to injury 
and destruction. 

Governor. — Well, madam, I will inquire into the matter, 
and if any injustice has been done, will try to have it cor- 
rected. But your husband, you admit, has gone off with the 
rebels, and you abandoned your dwelling - . 

Lady. — My husband went off South because it was to 
his interest to do so. You must not find fault with any 
body for taking care of himself these times. You know, 
Governor, that all things are justifiable in war. 

Governor. — Well, madam, it appears to me that this 
broad rule of yours will justify taking possession of your 
house. According to your maxim, I don't see any reason 
for helping you out of your difficulty. 

Lady. — Oh ! but I didn't mean it that way. 

Governor. — No, madam, I suppose not. I will try to be 
more generous to you than your own rule would make me. 
I do not believe in your rule that " all things are justifiable 
in time of war." But that is just what you rebels insist 
upon. It is perfectly right and proper for you to violate 
the laws, to destroy this Government, but it is all wrong 
for us to execute the laws to maintain the Government. 

The rebel ladies looked around in various directions, and, 
heaving a long sigh, retired, with the conviction that they 
had suggested a knotty argument on a dangerous subject 
to a hard adversary. 

But the obstinacy of the rebellious sentiment of the 
people of the State did not embrace all the difficulties to be 
encountered. A laro;c rebel armv still hunc; on the borders 
of Tennessee, and its military occupation was still doubtful. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 255 

The battle of Shiloh came off on the 6tli and 7th of April, 
1862, and after a fierce contest, with disastrous results the 
first day, General Beauregard was, on the second day, forced 
back. Shortly afterwards the Federal forces occupied 
Northern Alabama, and entered the borders of East Ten- 
nessee. About the same time the Rebel General Bragg, 
with a heavy force, passed through it, entered Kentucky, 
and was passing rapidly on toward Louisville. The Federal 
forces hastily fell back from their position in Northern 
Alabama and the borders of East Tennessee, and passed 
rapidly through Nashville, leaving a force wholly inade- 
quate (to minds less bold and daring than Governor John- 
son's) for the defense of the city. The rebel leaders 
Forrest and Morgan, together with their sympathizers in 
and around the city, felt confident of its capture or sur- 
render ; but Governor Johnson had determined to defend 
it at all hazards and to the last extremity, and, if need be, 
utterly destroy it before it should again fall into their 
hands. The capitol building and city were hastily fortified, 
and. every precautionary step practicable taken for its 
defense. The rebel forces soon appeared around it, and 
daily expected its surrender; but that was a hasty con- 
clusion — sooner would it have been battered to the ground 
or laid in ashes than yielded to the foe. 

We are afforded a graphic view of the labors of Governor 
Johnson throughout these dark and trying times, as well as 
a highly interesting narrative of the state of affairs and 
condition of Nashville, from the diary of Mr. Samuel R. 
Glenn, formerly editor of the Boston Daily Times, and 
at the period depicted, the capable correspondent of the 
New York Herald in Tennessee. His diary is rendered 
doubly important and interesting by the elevation of Gov- 
ernor Johnson to the Presidency, and as the only authentic 
document covering a remarkable period. It shall be used 
with freedom. 



256 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Arriving in Nashville on the 27th April, 1862, Mr. Glenn,. 
as an attache of the Herald, repaired at once to the quar- 
ters occupied by Governor Johnson, in the St. Cloud Hotel, 
on the preliminary business usual on such occasions. He 
was promptly admitted to the presence of the Governor, 
and found him engaged with his private secretary, Mr. 
Browning, upon official business. After a few words of 
explanation, he was at once supplied with the necessary 
papers to facilitate his operations. The Governor received 
him with great kindness, and in a few moments entered into 
a minute and very interesting exposition of the state of 
affairs then existing in Tennessee. He said when he 
arrived in Nashville from Washington he found everything 
in a chaotic condition. There was no form to the Union 
Government there, if any existed. There was no organized 
department save that of the State, which was then being 
moulded into shape by Mr. East. The Governor explained 
that since the evacuation of the city by the secessionists, 
only a kw weeks, previously, the Union civil power had not 
time to become established ; but he was using every effort 
to restore order and confidence, and, although surrounded 
with almost insurmountable difficulties, he was hopeful of 
final success. This was the first time the visitor had ever 
seen Governor Johnson, but he was struck with the force 
and vigor of his views in regard to the rebellion, and also 
with respect to his mode of treating the whole subject, in- 
cluding the " intelligent and conscious traitors," as he termed 
the leaders, in contradistinction to the great mass who had 
been forced into the rebellion against their inclinations. 

The journalist continues : 

" April 28tJt. — Governor Johnson was called upon to-day by one 
William Davis, formerly a noted secessionist, who desired permis- 
sion to ship one hundred and fifty bales of cotton from Arkansas 
through the Federal lines to Cairo. ' Have you taken the oath V 
' Yes, I have taken the oath, and given up the whole secession con- 



OF ANDREW JOHXSOX. 257 

cern.' Permission to ship was granted by the Governor. On inquir- 
ing of Davis, ' Are the owners burning their cotton where you come 
from V ' No, they are not such damned fools.' " 

On this day Mr. Glenn was shown, in the State Depart- 
ment, some intercepted secesli letters from East Tennessee, 
one of which advised the selection of Tennessee regiments 
to do the hanging of loyalists, as the employment of Mis- 
sissippians " might arouse prejudices." Another letter 
dated Louisville, June 3, 1861, was from George N. San- 
ders to General S. R. Anderson, proposing the sale of cer- 
tain pieces of ordnance to the rebels. Another letter, dated 
Rogersville, Ky, July 1, 1SG1, appeals to General Anderson 
to " send arms, for we are surrounded and almost overrun 
witli Union men." This was encouraging news to Governor 
Johnson and friends at this critical juncture. 

" April 29tft. — An interesting event of to-day has been the arrival 
of the Sixty-ninth Ohio, under command of Colonel Lewis D. Camp- 
bell, ex-Congressman from Ohio. They drew up in front of the St. 
Cloud Hotel, and shortly after, Governor Johnson appeared. He 
was enthusiastically received, and delivered a patriotic address. He 
cordially welcomed Colonel Campbell and his regiment to the soil 
of Tennessee in behalf of the Union men, and earnestly wished 
them God speed in marching through the State on this mission to 
maintain the Union and the Constitution, and to put down treason. 
He avowed that when the sentiments of the people of Tennessee 
could be heard, the State would stand disenthralled from secession, 
and become again a sovereign member of the Union. 

"April 30th.— Ex-Governor Wm. B. Campbell, Hon. Win. B. 
Stokes, Hon. Bailie Peyton, Colonel Wm. H. Polk, and other promi- 
nent Union citizens, are in town to-night, consulting with Governor 
Johnson in relation to the best means of restoring Tennessee to the 
Union. The Governor is in favor of exercising the most rigorous 
measures against ultra-secessionists, the principal point of which is 
their perpetual banishment from the State, without the privilege of 
taking the oath of allegiance. Arrangements were made for a great 
Union mass convention, to be held in the Capitol in a week or two. 

" As an evidence that the secessionists do not mean to relinquish 
their hold upon their property here without a struggle, an incident 

17 



258 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

that occurred will furnish proof. Mrs. Washington Barrow, wife of 
a very rich and prominent secessionist, now undergoing sentence of 
banishment, appealed to Governor Johnson to know by what right 
certain claims of hers on the river front were infringed upon ? ' By 
the right of conquerors,' quietly replied the Governor. The lady 
did not press the subject, as there was danger of her entire property 
being confiscated. 

" The teller of the Planters' and Union Bank was arrested to-day 
for treasonable uttorances. He declares he would take the oath 
were it not for a lady to whom he is engaged, who avows she will 
not marry him if he does. Cases like these do not enhance the 
respect Union people have for the secessionist ladies of Nashville. 
General Dumont calls them ' pouters,' and says, ' When you stop 
poutiug in Nashville you will stop secessionism.' General Z. M. P. 
Maury, secessionist, was to-day banished by Governor Johnson. He 
offered to take the oath, but the Governor did not deem it prudent 
to trust him. Several officers of Montserrat's artillery were arrested 
to-day by order of the Governor. 

" May 1st. — A number of sympathizing merchants are here settling 
accounts with secessionists, and giving them encouragement. Gov- 
ernor Johnson thinks ' there are enough secessionists South without 
importing others from the North.' 

" In course of conversation to-day, in the Governor's apartments, 
a Unionist related the following anecdote of Alexander H. Stephens, 
Vice-President of the Confederacy. Stephens was asked by a Union- 
ist : ' Can you answer your own Union speech V ' No.' ' Why did 
you desert us, then V Stephens replied : ' To prevent the Tooinbs 
men from plunging their daggers into the hearts of the Stephens 
men, and to prevent the Stephens men from plunging theirs into the 
hearts of the Toombs men.' 

"About the same time it was stated that certain prominent 
secessionists had taken the oath prescribed by Governor Johnson. 

One of the doubtful kind approached Colonel , who had 

recently subscribed to the oath, and said : ' Well, Colonel, I hear 
you 've jined. Is it so ?' ' Yes.' ' Well, I guess I 'Ujine, too,' and 
took the oath amid some merriment, the Governor himself relaxing 
the usual rigidity of his features at the quaint remark." 

The following proclamation belongs to this period. It 
speaks for itself : 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 259 

" Executive Office, Nashvtle, Tenn., May 9t7i, 1862. 

" Whereat, Certain persons, unfriendly and hostile to the Govern- 
ment of the United States, have banded themselves together, and 
are now going at large through many of the counties of this State, 
arresting, maltreating, and plundering Union citizens wherever found : 

" Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, Governor of the State of Ten- 
nessee, by virtue of the power and authority in me vested, do hereby 
proclaim that in every instance in which a Union man is arrested 
and maltreated by the marauding bands aforesaid, five or more 
rebels, from the most prominent in the immediate neighborhood, 
shall be arrested imprisoned, and otherwise dealt with as the nature 
of the case may require ; and further, in all cases where the pro£>erty 
of citizens loyal to the Government of the United States is taken 
or destroyed, full and ample remuneration shall be made to them 
out of the property of such rebels in the vicinity as have sympa- 
thized with, and given aid, comfort, information or encouragement 
to the parties committing such depredations. 

" This order will be executed in letter and spirit. All citizens 
are hereby warned, under heavy penalties, from entertaining, receiv- 
ing or encouraging such persons so banded together, or in any wise 
connected therewith. 

By the Governor : Andrew Johnson. 

Edward H. East, Secretary of State. 

Let ns return to the Diary. Under a three days' later 
date there is a very interesting entry, with a resume of a 
telling speech from the indefatigable re-organizer : 

" May 12t7i. — To-day was a great day for Nashville, and for Gov- 
ernor Johnson as the leader and champion of the Union phalanx in 
Tennessee. A very large mass convention was held in the House of 
Representatives, at which ex-Governor Campbell presided. After 
speeches by several prominent Union men Governor Johnson was 
loudly called for. The moment he made his appearance there was 
one universal shout of welcome. All present seemed to congratulate 
themselves on having a leader of so determined a mein in this crisis 
as the man who now stood before them. The delegates from the 
country districts seemed electrified by his presence, and, as one re- 
marked, who was forced by the presence of the multitude to crowd 
upon our elbow while taking a few notes of the proceedings, "Andy 
Johnson 's got the people with him, that 's a fact.' After the tumult 
of applause had subsided, Governor Johnson proceeded to address 



2G0 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the audience. His remarks occupied three hours' time, and covered 
a large portion of the field of his present operations, with magnani- 
mous references to incidents of the past, hope in the present, and 
confidence in the future. 

" He said he now felt it the proudest moment of his life to stand 
here, under the Stars and Stripes, and on the platform of the Union 
with those who had differed with him politically. Taking the hand 
of the president of the meeting, Governor Campbell, and shaking it 
warmly, he repeated his heartfelt congratulations upon the auspicious 
event, and upon the prospect of a speedy restoration of Tennessee 
to the Union. He continued : ' If the Union goes down, we go 
down with it. There is no other fate for us. Our salvation is the 
Union, and nothing but the Union. The only inquiry must be, Are 
you for the Union, and willing to swear that the last drop of your 
blood shall be poured out in its defence ? [Applause long contin- 
ued.] He would say to others that he would toil through moun- 
tains, through valleys, through plains, at night and by day, and all 
his exertions should be toward the restoration of Tennessee to her 
former relations with the Federal Government. ' 

" The effect of the following passage in his speech was profound 
and thrilling : ' Treason must be punished, or, rather, treason must 
be crushed out and traitors must be punished. Intelligent, conscious 
traitors must be punished. Not the great mass who have been forced 
under conscription into the Southern armies. We say to them, 
return to your allegiance and no punishment shall be inflicted. But 
to those who brought this sea of blood upon our land, who arrayed 
brother against brother, we say to the conscious, intelligent traitor 
you will be punished.' Aud some of his auditors leaped to their 
seats in the phrenzy of their agitation as he uttered the closing 
words of the following : ' What confidence should Tennesseeans 
have in Jeff. Davis ? How long is it since he attempted to tarnish 
the fair fame of Tennessee ? In secret session the people of Tennes- 
see were lashed to the car of his hybrid, despotic government. Ten- 
nesseeans are now in the dungeons of Alabama, bound in irons and 
fed on rotten meat and diseased bones. No sound comes to cheer 
1 hem ; no sound to relieve them of their sad and weary confinement, 
save the clanking of the chains that confine them. What sin, what 
crime, what felony have they committed ? None ! None ! In the 
name of God, none, except that they love the flag of their country.' 
[Great applause.] ' There is one question,' continued Governor 
Johnson, placing much stress upon his observations, ' which under- 
lies all others at this juncture, I say what I know, I know what I 
say and feel, that is, the struggle to know whether man is capable 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 2 G 1 

of self-government ; whether man can govern himself. He believed 
that the question of slavery was made the pretext for breaking up 
the government, in order to establish a monarchy.' He referred to 
South Carolina as having inaugurated ' this infamous, diabolical, 
damnable rebellion,' and deducted from the fact that the tories in 
that State, during the Revolutionary war, had proposed arrange- 
ments for a restoration to vassalage under that power ; that they 
were ready for a return to a monarchy and the establishing of an 
aristocracy that should control the masses. [Sensation.] In support 
of this view Governor Johnson presented the fact that one of the 
leading inducements of separation was the hope of succor, recogni- 
tion and help from Great Britain and France. ' Separation !' he 
exclaimed ; separate from the United States, and what does South 
Cai'olina, or any other of the seceded original States do but fall back 
to its original colonial condition ? to the condition of vassalage to 
Queen Victoria ? Shall we overlook these things in the great clamor 
for Southern rights ? Jeff. Davis, Toombs, Iverson, Benjamin and 
Wigfall, he pronounced conspirators worse than those of Rome. 
' Will you,' he asked of the men of Tennessee, ' become vassals to 
these men ?' He appealed to those who had a recollection of the 
sires of the Revolution, of those deeds which tanght them to revere 
the memories of the past ; to the times when the blood spouted from 
the heels of those who, barefooted, made long and weary marches, 
through snow and over frozen rivers, to achieve their independence 
from foreign domination, to answer. [Applause.] Are you willing, 
he asked, to quail before treason and traitors, and surrender the best 
government the world ever saw ? [Cries of ' Never, never.'] Al- 
though the revolution has run rampant, it has not overcome those 
who know that there is a redeeming spirit, a returning sense of jus- 
tice abiding in the hearts of the great mass of the people. He com- 
pared the present darkness and depression of the Union men to the 
lava that, issuing from the crater of Vesuvius, had receded only to 
return in a volume of liquid fire and sweep over the land. There 
is, he said, a redeeming spirit coming over the land. In the forests — 
and there are many here who can understand the simile —the mur- 
murs of the coming storm can be heard before the storm breaks 
forth in its fury. He heard the murmurs of that coming storm now. 
It was returning to crush out treason and rebellion." 

" Referring to the cry for Southern rights, he exclaimed : ' South- 
ern rights ! Why, a man in South Carolina is not eligible to a seat 
in the legislature unless he owns ten negroes and is possessed of $o00 
freehold property. Where 's that man, he asked, who wants his 
rights in the territories ? Why don't he go to South Carolina ? 



202 LIFE AND P UBLIG SEE \ 'ICES 

Would he be allowed to become a member of the Legislature ? No. 
I doubt whether he would be allowed to darken the doors of the 
capitol. Governor Johnson said if he should go there himself he 
would not be eligible to a seat in the lower house of the legislature. 
It required the ownership of ten negroes for eligibility. He only 
owned nine, or did once own them ; but they have since been confis- 
cated by the Southern Confederacy, and they have them now. They 
went to his home, where his wife was sick, and his child, eight years. 
old, consuming with consumption. They turned his wife and child 
into the streets, and converted his house, built with his own hands, 
into a hospital and barracks. His servants being confiscated, it was 
with great difficulty and much suffering that his wife and little boy 
were enabled to reach the house of a relative, many miles distant. 
Call you this Southern rights ? If so, God preserve me from another 
such infliction. [The audience were silent as the tomb as the Gover- 
nor related this portion of his personal experience. The sensation 
was profound.] Proceding, he said he did not wish to be under- 
stood as conveying the idea that Tennessee was out of the Union. 
She had no right 'to go out, no more than you have to apply the 
torch to a building without asking the consent of your adjoining 
neighbor. She is not out. She is still an integral part of the Union. 
"When the rebellion is put dor n she will stand in her relations as 
she stood before — one of the brightest stars in the galaxy of Federal 
States. [Continued applause.] The Governor concluded by paying 
his respects to the female portion of the secession population in 
Nashville. He said that when a woman shall uusex herself she must 
be met in the character she assumes. He regretted that there were 
so few Union women in Nashville. Why should the women oppose 
the Union ? We want their assistance. He believed that by women's 
influence many men have been induced to join the Confederates. 
[Voices, ' Yes, hundreds,' ' thousands.'] The Governor paid a 
beautiful and eloquent tribute to woman in her natural arid appro- 
priate sphere. Though there were but few Union women now in 
Nashville, he looked forward to the time when there will be plenty ; 
to the time when scenes of blood and carnage, the smoke and dust 
of battle shall cease ; to the time when the dove will come, and the 
stars of the morning shall sing, and a Saviour shall proclaim, ' Peace 
on earth, good will to man.' 

" Iu the evening another meeting was held in the same hall, while 
Governor Johnson received the congratulations of hundreds of his 
fellow citizens, and a number of Union ladies in his hotel." 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 2G3 

The effect of the Union demonstration on the 12th was 
sensibly observable in Nashville. The secessionists were 
not half so violent or insulting as formerly, and even the 
ladies of that persuasion were induced to cease torturing 
their pretty mouths into an "ugly pout" whenever they 
met Unionists. Immediately following these good results, 
and with the hope of extending their benefits, arrangements 
Vere made to hold another mass meeting in the interior of 
the State — in Murfrcesboro', Rutherford Co., a region that 
had been the hot-bed of secession. It came off on the 24th 
of May. The journalist accompanied Governor Johnson 
and one of his aides to the scene, and says : 

" We reached Murfreesboro' about noon, and by invitation repaired 
to the residence of Mr. Jordan, a Union citizen, where a bountiful 
dinner was prepared. We then repaired to the court-house, where, 
placing a couple of boards on the heads of barrels, a platform was 
prepared outside the building, and after addresses from the presi- 
ding officer, Hon. Wm. Spence, and Hon. Edmund Cooper, of Shelby- 
ville, Governor Johnson was introduced. The audience was a queer 
mixture of blue coats and butternuts. The latter stood listlessly 
inside the railing of the court-house yard, and even the spirited and 
eloquent remarks of Mr. Cooper could not arouse them from their 
incomprehensible state of listlessness. But as Governor Johnson 
proceeded they began to exhibit more intei'cst and attention. He 
seemed to know where and how to touch the hearts of the Tcnnes- 
seeans, and make them vibrate with patriotic emotions. In emphatic 
words he urged the deluded and erring Union men, who had by 
force or choice joined the rebel armies, to return to their allegiance, 
and to all, except to the ' intelligent and conscious traitor,' would 
amnesty be granted. Over the whole field of local — and a great 
proportion of national — politics did this inflexible and defatigable 
exponent and defender of the Constitution and Union proceed, and 
for three hours and more enlist the attention of his auditors. It was 
a sight to observe the sway he seemed to have over them as exhibited 
in their physiognomies and actions. Now they would lend silent 
and immovable attention ; again, as a striking fact or forcible and 
pertinent illustration would present itself, they would burst into a 
laugh and applaud with approving cries of ' Good for Andy,' ' That 's 
the talk,' etc. And when he particularly alluded to his own suffer- 



264 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ings and to those of others, and to the horrors that encompassed a 
continuance of the rebellion, tears were shed by more than one stout 
and stalwart Tennesseean. The whole meeting and its incidents 
were matters to be remembered, and they doubtless will be by those 
who had the opportunity to witness them. 

" May 25th. — After the meeting yesterday, Governor Johnson and 
party accepted an invitation from William Spence, Esq., to visit his 
mansion about three miles distant, take tea, and tarry for the night. 
It was a pleasant drive, but nearly all the people we met looked 
frightened. Reaching the mansion — an elegant and spacious one — 
with delightful surroundings, the Governor was warmly welcomed 
by the hostess and some few other ladies. Tea over, with its deli- 
cious accomr>aniraents of ripe strawberries and fresh cream^ the party 
were entertained with some charming music by the ladies, and then, 
after a few hours' pleasant conversation, the Governor retired with 
Mr. Cooper. 

" Shortly after the retirement of Governor Johnson, the company 
who remained were enlivened by the music of the band of the Third 
Minnesota, quartered in town, who had come out for the purpose of 
serenading the Governor. This was an agreeable suqmse. What 
followed was not quite so agreeable." 

I condense an alarm recorded by Mr. Glenn. It was 
about eleven o'clock, the company had retired, when the 
host whisperingly informed him that Colonel Lister of the 
Third Minnesota had just sent word by a courier, that 
threats of an attempt to capture the Governor were rife in 
town, and that for the purpose some six hundred cavalry, 
supposed to be Morgan's men, were within six miles at 
sunset. The Colonel quietly sent three companies out to 
surround the house and wait in ambush for the approach 
of the rebels. " There need be no fears for the Governor's 
safety," said Mr. Spence, " if we keep quiet." Earnestly 
cautioning Mr. Glenn not to disclose the matter to any one 
until morning, the latter was left to the enjoyment of the 
agreeable reflection for the remainder of the night that he 
might at any moment hear the rattle of musketry, the din 
and clash of arms, with no other defence than " a bolster 
and a clear conscience." The night passed wearily away, 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 2G5 

and by the bursting light of a bright May morning in 
sunny Tennessee, the journalist welcomed again the sight 
of green swards and masses of brilliant flowers undisturbed 
by the tread of hostile footsteps. The enemy had probably- 
got wind of the movement of Colonel Lister and had judi- 
ciously concluded to defer for the present the attempt to 
capture so valuable a prize as Governor Johnson. 
Under the same date, the diary continues : 



" On visiting the camp of Colonel Lister this morning, Governor 
Johnson inquired why he had not been informed of the alarm of 
the previous night, in order that he and his party might have come 
into town and secured better protection. ' Oh,' replied Colonel Lis- 
ser, with all the coolness of an old grenadier, ' I knew they could 
not capture you, Governor ; and I wanted to use you as a bait.' 
Neither the Governor nor his party saw the precise necessity of using 
such valuable bait to catch such a bad style of fish. Colonel Park- 
hurst, of the Ninth Michigan, and Captain O. C. Rounds, of the 
same regiment, and a brave and noble soldier, also extended hospi- 
talities to the Governor and party. 

" The Governor was escorted to the cars by detachments of Min- 
nesota and Michigan regiments, and while waiting for the train was 
called upon for a speech. He promptly responded by getting on 
the top of a freight car and delivering one of his spirited addresses. 
Referring to the military, he said their mission was his mission, and 
that mission was to restore the integrity of the Union, defend the 
honor of the national flag, and to re-establish and maintain the in- 
stitutions of the country. He welcomed the Union soldiery. They 
had been accused of committing depredations. But it was those 
who had taken up arms for what they call the Southern Confede- 
racy that are the robbers, the violators of female virtue, the incendi- 
aries that burn and destroy the property of unoffending Union people, 
He prayed that God's red hand might be raised to crush the rebel- 
lion, and that the soldiers of the Union would go on conquering 
and to conquer in the great cause. The rebels may violate the wives 
and daughters of Union men, they may transfer our fertile plains 
into graveyards, but never, never shall we surrender the cause we 
are fighting for. If it were his destiny to die in the cause of liberty 
he would die upon the tomb of the Union, with the American flag 
as his winding sheet. This speech was received with vociferous 
12 



2GG LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

applause, and at its conclusion the soldiery and citizens joined in 
singing ' Hallelujah,' with a grand chorus and thrilling effect. 

'• June 2d. — The Union meetings inaugurated in Nashville are 
being followed up. One was held to-day in Columbia. It was 
addressed by Governor Johnson and Neil S. Brown, the first appear- 
ance of the latter on the Union platform this season. An apprehended 
accident, whether premeditated or otherwise, came near putting a 
stop to Governor Johnson's appearance as a speaker. Taking a car-, 
riage, with one of his aids and ' our correspondent ' at the railroad de- 
pot for the hotel, with a small escort of soldiery, the horses, from some 
cause or other, took fright as the carriage was passing up a hill at 
the edge of a steep embankment, and suddenly turned nearly around. 
Governor Johnson's quick eye discovered the movement, and in a 
moment he opened the carriage door and landed upon terra firma, 
followed by the other occupants of the vehicle. Had the carriage 
overturned at the spot, aud the danger was imminent, there is no 
knowing what damage might have ensued. As it was, the Governor 
concluded not to try a similar experiment ; for there was no calcu- 
lating what mischievous or dastardly tricks the secessionists of the 
vicinity might undertake in order to wreak their vengeance upon 
him, and he concluded to walk the balance of the distance, about a 
mile and a half. 

" The meeting was held in a market space, under a building 
used for some local official purpose. Mounted upon a butcher's 
block — the stump of a huge oak tree— Governor Johnson delivered 
another of his impassioned addresses to the soldiers and citizens 
present. Hon. Neil S. Brown also spoke in behalf of a Union 
restored, declaring that the rebellion was played out. Much disap- 
pointment was felt at the non-appearance at the meeting of Colonel 
Win. H. Polk, brother of the late President Polk, who was instru- 
mental in getting it up. His hospitable residence had always been 
a favorite rendezvous for Union visitors. 

" June lih. — Following the meeting at Columbia came another at 
Shclbyville to-day, by far the most significant since the mass con- 
vention in Nashville last month. The meeting was held in the Fair 
Grounds, and from three to four thousand persons, including many 
ladies, were present. Speeches were made by Governor Johnson, 
Mr. Wisener (President), and Colonel Scudder, once a secesh, now a 
ptrcng Unionist. It was an enthusiastic and demonstrative gather- 
ing. Colonel Scudder was an interesting feature of this occasion. 
The Colonel said he entertained Southern views and had gone for 
separation. He beliewed it now to be the duty of every citizen to 
submit to the Government. He regarded the position now as that 



OF ANDREW JOIIXSOX. 267 

of two fellows engaged in a free fight. They pitched in and one got 
a thrashing. That was the South, and it should acknowledge the fact. 
Colonel S. was Inspector General under the secesh Governor Isham 
G. Harris. He was in the Mexican war, and lost an eye in the bat- 
tle of Monterey, under the then Colonel W. B. Campbell, afterwards 
Governor of Tennessee. 

" The frequency and growing popularity of the Union meetings 
started by Governor Johnson, and steadfastly adhered to by him and 
a number of courageous Union sympathizers seem, to have startled 
the secesh, and they are throwing in guerilla bands about the coun- 
try and committing the most appalling outrages upon those who 
avow Union^entiments and attend Union meetings. We have alarm- 
ing reports of their near approach and their depredations as we pre- 
pare to start from Shelbyville for Nashville. 

" At "Wartrace, where an enthusiastic Union meeting was held a 
few days i ago — the only one, by the way, which Governor Johnson 
has not personally attended — the commander of the post, Colonel 
Sidney M. Barnes, of the Eighth Kentucky, notified Governor John- 
son that a large body of mounted guerillas were in the neighborhood, 
and that their intention was to incercept the train on which he was 
on its way from Shelbyville. They had already committed outrages 
upon peaceful men and women returning from the meeting. Colonel 
Barnes offered the Governor a guard of all the men he could spare, 
his force being very small ; but the Governor declined the offer. At 
Union villc and Bell Buckle, a few miles further, we again received 
rumors of the presence of guerillas in force. Nothing daunted by 
those alarming reports, Governor Johnson ordered the train to pro- 
ceed. Reaching Murfreesboro, evidence of the bloody work of the 
guerillas was seen. The bodies of six or seven Union men, murdered 
by guerillas, had just been brought into town. They were killed a 
few hours before, outside the town, near Ready ville (a village that 
takes its name after the father of the wife of the notorious John 
Morgan). Colonel Lister, commanding the Murfreesboro' post, noti- 
fied Governor Johnson of these facts, and urged him to remain over 
night, under guard, in the town. Much excitement existed among 
the town's people, and they unitedly pressed the Governor to remain, 
as they were confident the train would be attacked or destroyed 
before it reached Nashville. ' My friends,' replied the Governor, ' I 
thank you for your kind solicitude ; but my duty calls me to Nashville 
and I am going there to-night.' The passengers were in a great state 
of perplexity and anxiety. Some concluded to remain over ; others 
determined to ' stick to Andy Johnson ;' and one of the latter, dis- 
covering in the twilight a four-leaved clover by the side of the track, 



268 LIFE AKD PUBLIC SERVICES 

held it up to the crowd, and declaring it to be a good omen, they all 
resolved to ' stick to Andy Johnson,' come what would. They then 
took their seats in the cars, Governor Johnson looking as calm and 
unconcerned as it* he were going to a picnic. About this time the 
engineer of the train began to exercise a little authority, as he felt 
himself responsible for the safety of the train. He asked Colonel 
Lister, privately, what he thought it best to do— return to Shelby- 
ville, remain at Murfreesboro, or proceed to Nashville. ' Put Andy 
Johnson in Nashville as quick as possible,' was the reply. And away 
we went. Night was fast closing around us, and we had some thirty 
miles to travel, with the devilish guerillas besetting us on all sides. 
Visions of a murderous smash-up were constantly before our eyes. 
Governor Johnson exhibited no signs whatever of alarm. He con- 
versed as pleasantly and as composedly as he ever did. He had 
made up his mind to one thing — never to be taken alive by his 
enemies; and the few devoted friends who were near him shared 
with him this resolve. It was the most interesting railroad ride 
this correspondent ever had. His seat was next to that of Governor 
Johnson, and he made up his mind that if at any moment he should 
be sent into eternity he would at least make his exit in respectable 
company. Thanks be to Providence, we reached Nashville in perfect 
safety about nine o'clock, to find the city in a great state of conster- 
nation at the reports that had preceded us of our capture. We had 
actually outstripped the calculations of the guerillas, who that same 
night tore up the track and made a huge pile of the sleepers after 
our train had passed. The very next train that went over the road 
encountered the obstructions, was thrown off the track and essentially 
smashed up. It costs something to be Union men in Tennessee about 
these days. Only a few days ago two trains were fired into near 
Athens. One went over a bridge that was on fire ; the second fol- 
lowed, and the men were shot at as they were trying to escape 
through the windows of the cars." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Johnson's administration in Tennessee continued. 

Fourth op July — Slavery — Forrest captures Murfreesboro' and advances to 
Antioch — Great Excitement in Nashville — Forrest's Path lit by Burning 
Houses — Falls back to Carthage — Morgan and Forrest at Huutsville — De- 
sire to Capture Governor Johnson — Continued Defenses of Nashville — 
Secessionists as Hostages — General Buell arrives- — Johnson deplores Bu- 
ell's Movements — Protests agaiust Evacuation without a Fight — General 
Thomas arrives and sustains Johnson — A Fighting Parson and the Gover- 
nor at Prayer — Fortifications — General Negley in Command — Governor's 
Family arrive after Great Peril — The Roman in Tears — Progress of the 
Siege — Nashville cut off from the Outer World — Breckinridge, Anderson 
and Forrest determine to take it — Johnson will destroy it first — Assassina- 
tions — Johnson saves a Secessionist from Mob Law — Negley thwarts a 
Rebel Coup ile Main — Morgan and Forrest attack the City from five Points 
— The Fight — Johnson says, "Any one who talks of Surrender I will 
shoot" — Negley's Ruse, the Rebels routed and Nashville saved a Third 
Time — General Rosecrans arrives — Congratulates Negley — Governor 
Johnson's Temperate Character — Bragg defeated at Perry ville, Ky. — En- 
trenches at Murfreesboro' — Rebel Spirit kept up — Governor Johnson 
builds Railroads and raises Troops — Opens Communication between the 
Army in Georgia and the Northwest — Orders Congressional Elections — 
Assesses Individuals to support the Families of Men forced into the Rebel 
Army — The Battle of Murfreesboro' — Occupation by Union Forces — Suc- 
cessful Flank Movement of Rosecrans on Bragg at Tullahoma and Shelby- 
ville — Bragg's Flight to Bridgeport, Ala,, and across the Cumberland 
Mountain to Chattanooga — Crittenden's Reconnoissances, Occupations by 
Union Forces— Battle of Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge — Rebels com- 
pletely routed and forced into Georgia — Granger and Thomas relieve Burn- 
side at Knoxville, the Siege raised and Retreat of Longstreet — East Ten- 
nessee clear of Rebels — President Lincoln recommends general Gratitude — 
Union Element awakening — Features of Johnson's Administration — On 
the Emancipation Proclamation — Success in the Restoration of Tennessee. 

About this time, and in the midst of this excitement. 
Governor Johnson met the Slavery question. It was in a 
speech at the Fourth of July meeting held at Nashville, 
he said : " This is the people's Government, they received it 

(269) 



270 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

as a legacy from Heaven, and they must defend and preserve 
it, if it is to be preserved at all. I am for this Government 
above all earthly possessions, and if it perish, I do not want 
to survive it. I am for it, though Slavery should be struck 
from existence, and Africa swept from the balance of the 
world. I believe, indeed, that the Union is the only protec- 
tion of Slavery — its sole guarantee ; but if you persist in 
forcing this issue of Slavery against the Government, I say, 
in the face of Heaven, Give me my Government and let the 
negro go !" 

The diarist now leads us to yet more stirring times ; with 
increased trouble to Governor Johnson, which he meets and 
overcomes with his superior resolution, courage and faith : 

"July lStJi. — The rebels, six thousand strong, under Forrest — and 
it is said, Breckinridge — captured Murfreesboro' to-day after a des- 
perate fight with the Third Minnesota, Colonel Lister; Eleventh 
Michigan, Colonel Parkhurst ; a detachment of the Seventh Pennsyl- 
vania cavalry, and Hewitt's First Kentucky battery. Our forces 
were outnumbered two to one. Colonel Lister and his command 
fought with consummate bravery. This disaster has created a pro- 
found sensation in Nashville. It is believed to be the first act in the 
drama of investing Nashville, and eventually attempting its capture. 
Governor Johnson has held a consultation with Colonel John F. 
Miller, commanding the post ; Colonel Lewis D. Campbell, Provost 
Marshal; the United States Commissary and Quartermaster, and 
others. Entire confidence in our ability to hold the city until rein- 
forcements arrive is expressed. The city is much excited. 

" July lAtk. — Several regiments have made their appearance, and 
are cheered as they pass through the streets. 

"July 16th. — Lebanon and Hartsville have been captured by the 
enemy. Three respectable Union citizens were hanged twenty-five 
miles from Nashville yesterday, for entertaining men engaged in 
constructing telegraph lines. Railroad trains, with reinforcements, 
have been run off the track, and many killed, and bridges have been 
burned all around us. 

"July \Wi. — Governor Johnson has been in constant consultation 
with the other authorities, preparing for the defence of the city. 

"July 23(7. — On duty with Governor Johnson and staff for four 
consecutive nights at the capitol, anticipating an attack. Forrest 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS OK 271 

has evacuated Murfreesboro,' and advanced to Antioch, six miles from 
Nashville, burning bridges over Mill creek, capturing our videttes 
and driving in our pickets. His path is lighted to-night by the 
burning houses of Union people. Couriers report him at 4 o'clock 
this morning within a mile and a-half of Nashville. Slept for an 
hour or two during the night in a room in the capitol, with the back 
of a chair for a pillow — our slumbering companions being Governor 
Johnson, Secretary Browning, Mr. Lindsley, Governor's Aid ; Colo- 
nel Gillem, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Foster and other officers of the 
First Tennessee. A rebel spy was brought in during the night, and 
handed over by Governor Johnson to the military authorities for 
punishment. A private in the Governor's guard at the same time 
fell from one of the upper corridors to the stone pavement below and 
was horribly bruised. The whole situation is rather novel, but one 
not unmixed with a certain degree of pleasure in the prospect of a 
fight. Governor Johnson slept several hours during the night as 
quietly as if he rested upon a bed of roses instead, almost literally, 
of reposing upon a bed of revolvers and bayonets. 

11 July 24//;. — The enemy have withdrawn from our front, and de- 
parted in haste, frightened off, no doubt by Governor Johnson's dec- 
laration that the first shot fired at the capitol would be the signal for 
the demolition of the houses of every prominent Secessionist in town, 
They know him to be a man who will keep his word. It has just 
been made known that at an interview between Forrest and some 
secessionists at the Hermitage a few days ago, Forrest was implored 
not to attempt to take the city, as it would inevitably involve the 
destruction of their property at the hands of Governor Johnson. 
Forrest has fallen back to Carthage, where it is reported large num- 
bers of rebel forces are concentrating." 

The next interesting entry is over three weeks later, but is 
retrospective in its character. 

"August 17th. — We have had reports of guerrilla depredations for 
the past three weeks all around us. Morgan and Forrest are at 
Huntsville, four or five thousand strong. Morgan says ' If he can 
capture Andy Johnson he does not fear the destruction of the city 
in an attack.' He seems to act upon that idea. Two of our couriers 
were captured to-day, nine miles from Nashville, on the Murfreesboro' 
road. Louisville train twenty hours overdue. Construction train 
captured at Gallatin. Morgan is the terror of the country, and, it is 
said, has recently been in Nashville, disguised. He is the enemy 



272 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

most talked of now, and lias many warm sympathizers here. We 
have had fights and skirmishes nearly every day the past week. 
Governor Johnson continues his defensive preparations, and has im- 
prisoned a number of prominent Secessionists as hostages for East 
Tennesseeans in rebel prisons. 

The intense anxiety and excitement continued, and was 
increased by the movements of General Buell. 

" September 2d. — The city is filled with alarm and apprehension. 
General Buell has evacuated Huntsville, Stevenson, Battle Creek, 
Dechard, ail Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee, and is on his 
way to Nashville, not, it is said, because an enemy pressed him in 
the front, but because the enemy (Bragg) had flanked him, moved 
north, and is now north of his position. Governor Johnson deplores 
this wholesale desertion of the country, and does not concur with 
General Buell as to its propriety. It is evident the two do not agree. 

" September 5t7i. — The enemy has recaptured Murfreesboro'. Gen- 
eral Buell has arrived in Nashville, General Rousseau in command. 

"September QtJi.— The city is in a state of great consternation on 
account of the current report that General Buell has determined upon 
the evacuation of Nashville. When the rumor reached Governor 
Johnson, he exclaimed, 'What, evacuate Nashville, and abandon 
our Union friends to the mercy of these infernal hounds ? Why, 
there is not a Secessionist in town who would not laugh to see every 
Union man shot down in cold blood by rebel soldiers if they come 
here.' He protests against an evacuation or a surrender without a 
fight. He would destroy the city rather than leave it to the enemy. 
General Thomas arrives at a critical period and takes command. He 
sustains Governor Johnson, and Nashville is neither evacuated nor 
destroyed. Thus for a second time has Governor Johnson saved the 
city by his matchless firmness and indomitable decision of character. 
Not only has he again saved the city, but the lives of hundreds of 
Union men and millions of Government property. Union refugees 
in most sickening plight are arriving from the South. They report 
the most horrible outrages by guerrillas." 

An authenticated anecdote lias recently been published 
which illustrates Johnson's feelings and actions on the pro- 
posed surrender of Nashville. Mr. F. B. Carpenter, the 
artist, relates the story as he heard it from President Lin- 
coln, while engaged at the Executive Mansion in putting on 



OF ANDREW JOHNS OK 273 

canvas the group commemorative of the reading of the 
Emancipation Proclamation. It was a few weeks prior to 
the Baltimore Convention, and before it was known that 
Governor Johnson would be the nominee for the Vice Presi- 
dencv, that President Lincoln related the anecdote. Said 
he, " I had a visit last night from Colonel Moody the fight- 
ing Methodist parson, as he is called in Tennessee. He is 
on his way to the Philadelphia Conference, and, being in 
Washington over night, came up to see me. He told me," 
he continued, " this story of Andy Johnson and General 
Buell, which interested me intensely. Colonel Moody was 
in Nashville the day it was reported that Buell had de- 
cided to evacuate the city. The rebels, strongly reinforced, 
were said to be within two days' march of the capital. Of 
course the city was greatly excited. Said Moody, ' I went 
in search of Johnson at the close of the evening, and found 
him at his office, closeted with two gentlemen, who were 
walking the floor with him, one on each side. As I entered 
they retired, leaving me alone with Johnson, who came up 
to me manifesting intense feeling and said, " Moody, we are 
sold out ! Buell is a traitor ! He is going to evacuate the 
citv, and in fortv-eight hours we shall all be in the hands of 
the rebels." Then he commenced pacing the floor again, 
twisting his hands, and chafing, like a caged tiger, utterly 
insensible to his friend's entreaties to become calm. Sud- 
denly he turned and said, " Moody can you pray ?" " That is 
my business, sir, as a minister of the Gospel," returned the 
Colonel. " Well, Moody, I wish you would pray," said John- 
son ; and instantly both went down upon their knees at op- 
posite sides of the room. As the prayer became fervent, 
Johnson began to respond in true Methodist style. Pres- 
ently he crawled over on his hands and knees to Moody's 
side, and put his arm over him, manifesting the deepest 
emotion. Closing the prayer with a hearty " Amen !" from 
each, they arose. Johnson took a long breath, and said, 
18 



274 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

with emphasis, " Moody, I feel better !" Shortly afterward he 
asked, " Will you stand by ine?" " Certainly, I will," was 
the answer, " Well, Moody, I can depend upon you ; you are 
one in a hundred thousand !" He then commenced pacing 
the floor again. Suddenly he wheeled, the current of his 
thought having changed, and said, " Oh ! Moody, I don't 
want you to think I have become a religious man because I 
asked you to pray. I am sorry to say it, but I am not, and 
have never pretended to be, religious. No one knows this 
better than you ; but, Moody — there is one thing about it — 
I do believe in Almighty God ! And I believe also in the 
Bible, and I say I'll be da man J if Nashville shall be surren- 
dered ! " And Nashville was not surrendered ! ' " 

The following extracts from the diary fully exhibit the 
state of Nashville : 

" September Wth. — Governor Johnson's policy regarding the holding 
of Nashville prevails. General Thomas had received instructions 
from the highest authority to hold the city at all hazards. The city 
is being rapidly fortified. Secessionists are bolder than ever. The 
negroes say their masters openly express the belief in the early 
occupation of the place by the rebels. One darkey asked to-day, 

' Massa , am de secesh done gone for good V In explanation 

he said his master had told him to get ready for a jollification, for 
their turn was coming again soon. 

" September BOth. — Communication with the outer world is cut off. 
We are surrounded by the enemy. A siege has commenced. Things 
look gloomy. The work of fortifying goes on briskly, and if the 
enemy gives us two weeks more time we can defy them. Captain 
Morton, Engineer United States Army, has two thousand contra- 
bands at work at St. Cloud's hill erecting fortifications. The splendid 
grove has been cut down. The Asylum for the Blind, erected at a 
cost of forty thousand dollars, has been blown up on a ' new princi- 
ple,' as Captain Morton expressed it. Every building gives way to 
make play for the guns of Fort Negley. 

" October 7th. — General James S. Negley is now in command. To-day 
he ordered an attack upon the rebel forces under General S. R. An- 
derson at Lavergne, a few miles distant. It was a surprise, and 
quite successful. Among the captures was Colonel Harry Maury. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 275 

[Late in command at Mobile.] The enemy re-occupied the place 
shortly after our leaving it. 

" October 8'Ii. — No communications for a month. Parties attempt 
to leave in flatboats and canoes, but are captured by guerrillas before 
they get fairly out of the city. Rations getting scarce. People 
getting uneasy. Hotels closed for want of supplies. Correspondence 
captured by guerrillas. No use -writing. Governor Johnson takes 
every thing coolly, hoping for the best. 

" October 12 th. — Quite a sensation has been produced by the arrival in 
Nashville of Governor Johnson's family, after incurring and escaping 
numerous perils while making their exodus from East Tennessee. 
The male members of the family were in danger of being hung on 
more than one occasion. They left Bristol, in the extreme Northeas- 
tern section of the State, on the Virginia line, by permission of the 
rebel War Department, accompanied by a small escort. Wherever 
it became known on the railroad route that Andy Johnson's family 
were on the train the impertinent curiosity of some rebels was only 
equalled by the clamor of other* for some physical demonstration on 
Johnson's sons. Arriving at Murfreesboro', they were met by Gene- 
ral Forrest and his force. Forrest refused to allow them to pro- 
ceed, and they were detained some time until Isham G. Harris and 
Andrew Ewing, noted rebels, telegraphed to Richmond and obtained 
peremptory orders allowing them to proceed. The great joy at the 
re-union of this long and sorrowfully separated family maybe imag- 
ined. I will not attempt to describe it. Even the Governor's Ro- 
man sternness was overcome, and he wept tears of thankfulness at 
this merciful deliverance of his beloved ones from the hands of their 
unpitying persecutors. Mrs. Johnson is now mistress of the Gover- 
nor's residence, a princely mansion formerly occupied by Ex-Governor 
and Ex-United States Postmaster General Aaron V. Brown. 

" October 21s£. — Days, weeks, nay months roll round, and there seems 
to be no change for the better in this important city. Cut off from 
communications with the outer world, our supplies become exhausted, 
deprived of almost all articles of luxury and even comfort, and sub- 
ject to the ill-disguised sneers and taunts of Union haters, our lot is 
a hard one. But, notwithstanding all this, there is no faltering 
among the garrison that hold the city against rebel hosts reported to 
be menacing us. Governor Johnson's wise and energetic measures 
coupled with the activity of General Negley, inspire courage and 
confidence among Union men. We hear that Breckinridge is around 
us with fifty thousand men ; that Anderson, mortified at his defeat 
at Lavergne, declares that he can and will capture the city ; and 
Forrest, incensed from the same cause, roughly swears that he will 



276 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

have Nashville at all hazards, if he falls himself at the first fire. 
But those who are in the confidence of Governor Johnson know 
that if the enemy, if fchey should capture the city, will achieve an 
empty triumph amid blackened and crumbling ruins. The coolness 
and calmness of the Governor amid these trying scenes are beyond 
all praise. He does all he can to preserve order ; but, notwithstand- 
ing this, midnight assassinations are frequent. There were six mur- 
ders one night recently. The other day a party belonging to an 
Illinois regiment broke down the door of a room in which were a 
secessionist and his mistress. The secessionist shot and killed two 
of the Illinoiam. The exasperation of their comrades cannot be 
portrayed. A rope was procured, and the nearest lamp post would 
have witnessed the unfortunate man's end but for the interference of 
Colonel Stanley and a strong detachment of soldiers. Amid the 
wildest excitement he was taken before Governor Johnson's Provost 
Marshal, Colonel Gillem, at the Capitol, and secured against the re- 
sults of mob violence. Although the act was calculated to lessen 
Governor Johnson's pojjularity with the troops, he unhesitatingly 
endorsed the conduct of Colonel Gillem, declaring that there was a 
legal and proper way to punish the offender, and so long as he had 
the power he would see it enforced. These facts are mentioned to 
show Governor Johnson's sen3e of justice and his determination to 
exercise it under the most trying circumstances. 

" November Atli. — The enemy have made several attempts to drive in 
our pickets, without material loss on either side. A rebel siege train 
Ii is arrived at the Lunatic Asylum, about three miles from the city, 
where the enemy have thrown up intrenchments. A rebel attempt 
to capture the city by a coup de main in the rear has been thwarted 
by the timely action of General Negley. 

Great activity prevails at the capital. Governor Johnson, with 
his private secretary, Mr. Browning ; one of his aides, Mr. Lindsley ; 
Provost Marshal Gillem ; Captain Abbott, First Tennessee Battery ; 
Assistant Provost Marshal B. C. Truman ; Volunteer Aid Mr. Glenn, 
together with the officers of the Governor's bodyguard, the First 
Tennessee infantry, under command of Colonel Gillem, are on duty 
night and day at the Governor's room, ready for any service that 
the Governor may require All hands are engaged in clean- 
ing firearms, sharpening cutlasses, &c. Four Rodman guns have 
been placed in position to defend the capitol, which is also protected 
by lines of earthworks and breastworks of cotton bales. The capi- 
tal will be defended to the last extremity. The cool and determined 1 
demeanor of Governor Johnson is the admiration of all. 

" November 5th. — The enemy made two attacks on Nashville to-day. 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS ON. 277 

One attack was made by Morgan on tlie Edgefield side of the river, 
with a view probably of destroying the new railroad bridge. Mor- 
gan was repulsed with considerable loss. About the same time the 
enemy under Forrest approached the city by four routes, viz. : the 
Franklin, Murfreesboro', Lebanon and Nolansville pikes. They were 
in great strength, and seemed bent on capturing the city. General 
Negley and Governor Johnson determined they should not. Fort 
Negley prepared to welcome them, with the Tenth Illinois as a gar- 
rison. Forts Browning and Lindsley and the two enfilading works 
known as Forts Truman and Glenn, were garrisoned by the gallant 
Nineteenth Illinois and detachments of other regiments. Fort An- 
drew Johnson (the capitol) was garrisoned by the First Tennessee, 
Colonel Gillem, with a reserve of artillery under command of Cap- 
tain Abbot, of the. First Tennessee battery. Governor Johnson and 
Staff, including the writer, took position in the cupola of the cap- 
itol, and had a splendid view of the conflict going on about two 
miles distant. At one time, when the firing was most furious, 
and the smoke partly concealed a view of the combat, it seemed 
that the Sixty-Ninth Ohio, Colonel Casselly, and the Seventy-Eighth 
Pennsylvania, Col. Sirwell, who were in the advance, had been defeated, 
and were under full retreat for the shelter of the fortifications. This 
was an exciting moment for the spectators in the cupola of the capi- 
tol, although there was not a blanched cheek among the group that 
surrounded Governor Johnson. It was here the Governor made the 
remark in that forcible manner he is accustomed to when he means 
a thing — " I am no military man, but any one who talks of surren- 
der I will shoot 1" What was apprehended to be a repulse of our 
troops proved to be simply a strategic movement of General Neg- 
ley's, for in a few minutes the entire Union force rallied and with 
colors flying dashed tempetuously, horse, foot and artillery, amid the 
thunder of the big guns of the forts, upon the before exultant foe. 
The enemy appeared to be thunderstruck. They came to a stand- 
still, fired a few shots, and then turned and wildly fled. The rout 
was complete. Thus was raised the siege of Nashville, and the city 
for a third time saved by the inflexible firmness of Governor John- 
son, aided by the bayonets of the flower of American soldiery." 

General Rosecrans arrived to-day as commander of the 
Army of the Cumberland, armed with heavy reinforcements, 
on the 14th. He issued a congratulatory order to General 
■ Negley for his gallant defense of Nashville, and held a con- 
sultation with Governor Johnson. Communications were 



; 



278 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

once more re-opened, and after an embargo of some two 
months (from September 15 to November 14) Nashville 
again became a city within the confines of civilization. 

Concluding his notes on the siege of Nashville and the 
constant excitement which preceded that event, Mr. Glenn, 
who was a daily observer of Governor Johnson's habits, 
pays a voluntary tribute to his self-control and temperate 
strength of character amid many temptations. " During 
these exciting scenes," says he, " during the dreadful dull- 
ness of interrupted communication, failing supplies, and a 
lack of any kind of amusements, it would not be strange if 
some tempers should seek solace in conviviality. But, from 
first to last, Governor Johnson was a model of abstemious- 
ness. He never played cards for amusement or gain. He 
never indulged in drink on any single occasion to a greater 
extent than possibly a clergyman would at a sacrament ; 
and as for the smaller vices he was free from them all. His 
whole aims and objects, his entire aspirations, seemed to 
centre in the re-establishment of the authority of the Fede- 
ral Government over his State, her speedy return to the 
Union, protection of loyal citizens in all parts of the State, 
and punishment of 'conscious and intelligent traitors' 
wherever found." 

The battle of Perryville in Kentucky, was fought in 
October following, and General Bragg defeated and driven 
in hasty retreat out of the State. He re-appeared at Mur- 
freesboro', only thirty miles from Nashville, where, with a 
heavy force, he entrenched himself. His presence in the 
State still kept alive the rebel spirit, and rendered it im- 
practicable to enforce civil law or restore the country to 
order. 

In the meantime, Governor Johnson, under authority from 
the Government, actively employed himself in completing 
the North Western Railroad from "Nashville to the Ten- 
nessee River, and in raising and equipping troops in the 



OF ANDRE W JOIIXSON. 2 1 9 

State for the service of the United States. He succeeded 
in botli enterprises. Under his auspices the railroad was 
put in complete running order, a distance of seventy-five 
miles, connecting with the Tennessee River, thus opening 
up a safe, and at all seasons, reliable channel of communi- 
cation between the Northwest and the Union Army in 
Georgia. 

He was no less successful in his efforts to increase the 
Army. Under his influence not less than twenty-four or 
twenty-five regiments were raised, armed and equiped for 
the service from Tennessee. 

On the 8th December Governor Johnson issued his procla- 
mation, appointing and ordering elections to be held to fill 
vacancies in the Thirty-seventh Congress ; and on the 15th 
promulgated an order assessing certain individuals in the 
city of Nashville, in various amounts, to be paid in five 
monthly installments, " in behalf of the many helpless 
widows, wives and children in the city of Nashville who 
have been reduced to poverty and wretchedness in conse- 
quence of their husbands, sons and fathers having been 
forced into the armies of this unholy and nefarious re- 
bellion." 

But no material change was made in the military status 
of the State until after the great battle at Murfreesboro', 
beginning on the 31st of December, 18G3, and continuing for 
several days, when the rebel army was defeated and forced 
back on Tullahoma to Chattanooga, and after the battles of 
Chickamauga and Mission Ridge into Georgia. 

The important movements which occupied almost a year 
after the battle of Murfreesboro', up to the raising of the 
siege of Knoxville, are well epitomized in Raymond's " His- 
tory of the Lincoln Administration." These great military 
movements, forming, as they do, so large a part of the his- 
tory of Tennessee during the rebellion, cannot be silently 
passed over. 



2 SO LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" After the battle of Murfreesboro , J and the occupation of 
that place by our troops, on the 5th of January, 1863. the 
enemy took position at Shelbyville and Tullahoina. and the 

winter and spring were passed in raids and unimportant 
skirmishes. In June, while General Grant was .ring 

Vicksbnrg, information readied the Government which led 
to the belief that a portion of Bragg's army had been sent 
to the relief of that place : and General B^scerans was 
urged to take advantage of this division of the rebel forces 
and drive them back into Georgia, so as to completely de- 
liver East Tennessee from the rebel armies. He was told 
that General Burnside would move from Kentucky in aid 
of this movement. General Eosecrans. however, deemed 
his forces unequal to such an enterprise : but, receiving re- 
inforcements, he commenced on the 25th of June a forward 
movement upon the enemy, strongly intrenched at Tulla- 
hoina, with his main force near Shelbyville. Deceiving the 
rebel general by a movement upon his left flank, Eosecrans 
threw the main body of his army upon the enemy's right, 
which he turned so completely that Bragg abandoned his 
position, and fell back rapidly, and in confusion, to Bridge- 
port. Ala., being pursued as far as practicable by our forces. 
General Burnside had been ordered to connect himself with 
R secrans, but had failed to do so. Bragg continued his 
retreat across the Cumberland Mountain and the Tennessee 
Eiver, and took post at Chattanooga, whither he was pur- 
sued by Eosecrans. who reached the Tennessee on the 20th 
of August, and on the 21st commenced shelling Chattanooga 
and making preparation for throwing his army across the 
river. A recounoisance. made by General Crittenden on 
the 9th of September, disclosed the fact that the rebels had 
abandoned the position, which was immediately occupied by 
our forces, who pushed forward towards the South. Indi- 
cations that the rebel general was receiving heavy reinforce- 
ments and manoeuvring to turn the right of our army, led 



OF ANDRE W JOIIXSOX. 2 B 1 

to a concentration of all our available forces, and. sul 
quently, to the appointment of General Grant to command 
the whole army thus brought together. On the 19th of 
S iptember General Rosecrans was attacked by the rebel 
forces, their main force being directed against his left wing 
under General Thomas, endeavoring to turn it so as to gain 
the road to Chattanooga. The attack was renewed the 
next morning, and with temporary su ^street's 

corps having reached the field and poured its massive 
columns through a gap left in the centre of our line by an 
unfortunate misapprehension of an order ; but the oppor- 
tune arrival and swift energy of General Granger checked 
his advance, and the desperate valor of Thomas and - 
troops repulsed every subsequent attempt of the enemy to 
car. ion. Our in this series of engage- 

ments, were 1,644 killed ; 9,262 wounded: and 4,845 miss- 
ing — a total swelled by the estimated losses of our cava] 
to about 10,351. The rebel general immediately sent 
Lo _ t against Burnside, who was at Knoxville. while 

he established his main force aarain in the neighborhood of 
Chattanooga. On the 23d of November General Grant 
moved his army to attack him, and on the 25th the whole 
of the range of h< ig - known as Missionary Ridge, held by 
Bragg, was carried by our troops after a desperate struggle, 
and the enemy completely routed. This was a very severe 
engagement, and our loss was estimated at about 4.000. 
Generals Thomas and Hooker pushed the rebel forces ba 
into Georgia, and Granger and Sherman were sent into 
East Tennessee to relieve Burnside and raise the siege of 
Knoxville. which was pressed by Longstreet. who. failing in 
- attempt, soon after retreated towards Virginia. 
'• Upon receiving intelligence of these movements the 
President issued the following recommendation : 



282 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, 
December 7, 1863. 

" Reliable information being received that the insurgent force is 
retreating from East Tennessee, under circumstances rendering it 
probable that the Union forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from 
that important position ; and esteeming this to be of high national 
consequence, I recommend that all loyal people do, on receipt of 
this information, assemble at their places of worship, and render 
special homage and gratitude to Almighty God for this great ad- 
vancement of the National cause. A. Lincoln.' 1 * 

About this time the rebel spirit in Tennessee began more 
perceptibly to wain, and the Union element, which had 
except in a few honorable instances, remained dormant, 
began to awaken into active life. Public meetings were 
held in various parts of the State, at which Governor John- 
son was usually present, urging the people to return to 
their allegiance. Similar meetings, as we have seen, had 
been gotten up, whenever practicable, by the Unionists 
some months previous, and the expression of public senti- 
ment on the leading issues, to some extent, inaugurated ; 
but this desirable means of reaching and expressing popular 
opinion was not so generally participated in as after the 
retreat of Bragg's army from the State. 

Among the necessary features of his Administration was 
that announced in Governor Johnson's proclamation of 
February 20, 1863, warning all persons holding, renting, 
occupying or using any real or personal estate belonging to 
traitors or their agents, not to pay the rents, issues or profits 
thereof, but to retain the same until some suitable person 
shall have been appointed in the name and in behalf of the 
United States to receive it. 

In a speech at Columbus, 0., on the 3d of March follow- 
ing, feeling it incumbent, doubtless, to make some allusion 
to the effect of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclama- 

* " History of the Administration of President Lincoln." By H. J. Raymond. 
Derby & Miller, New York. 






OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 283 

tion, he reiterated the spirit of his former declarations on 
the relations of slavery to a rebellious South, and said there 
were great laws and elements at work that would settle it. 
He did not believe the proclamation would effect the ques- 
tion one hair's breadth or hasten its downfall. The shortest 
way to destroy slavery was to let the South continue the 
war. The South being responsible for the war, would also 
be responsible for the destruction of slavery. We were car- 
rying on this war for the preservation of the Union and the 
restoration of the Constitution. If negro slavery was in the 
way, Government must go over it. He was for the Govern- 
ment with slavery, and for the Government without slavery. 
Slavery was only an incident, and, if necessary, must give 
way. Slavery had always agitated the Government, 
and it could not be objected to if the Government should 
agitate it. The objection to the President's proclamation 
was only an excuse for those who want to build up party. 
There were but two parties, one for and the other against 
the Government. The one was composed of patriots, and 
the other of traitors. He predicted that the time would 
come when the latter will join the enemy ; and he desired 
the prediction would be remembered. 

In addition to the Governor's unremitting efforts to 
restore Tennessee to its former allegiance, the internal 
peace of Nashville, and the perplexing cares and responsi- 
bilities of providing for the thousands of destitute refugees 
that daily came within the Federal lines, were all thrown 
upon him. His time was wholly employed, and the amount 
of labor performed by him in the various departments of 
his office was, perhaps, equal to that performed by any other 
one man in the United States. His whole soul was in the 
work ; and no labor was too arduous to be undertaken, no 
difficulties too complicated to be surmounted. Revenues 
were collected and disbursed, rules and regulations for the 
government of the people adopted and enforced, contro? 



284 LIFE OF ANDREW JOUXSOK 

versies settled and law suits decided and adjusted, armies 
raised, equipped and put into the field, works of defence 
and internal improvements projected and carried into execu- 
tion — all these, with many other matters of deep interest, 
for two whole years engrossed his attention and demanded 
his individual exertion. The wonder is that he performed 
so many and ever-varying engagements at all, much more, 
to the intense satisfaction of the loyal people of the State, 
and, at the same time, in a manner that gradually mellowed 
down the rebellious sentiment of the people, and brought 
back thousands to their former allegiance. 

On the 26th of January, 1864, Governor Johnson issued 
a proclamation ordering an election, on the first Saturday 
in March following, for Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Con- 
stables, Circuit and County Court Clerks, Registers and 
Tax Collectors. 

In obedience to this proclamation, elections were held in 
many of the counties and districts of the State, and the 
various officers designated chosen by the people. After- 
wards Judges, Chancellors, Attorney-Generals, etc., were 
appointed, and the whole machinery of the State govern- 
ment again set in motion. This advanced step in the resto- 
ration of law and order to the people was partially, and in 
localities not infested by bands of guerrillas, quite suc- 
cessful. 

The National Union Convention that assembled in Balti- 
more on the 6 th June, 1864, found Governor Johnson at 
Nashville, in the quiet but active discharge of his duties as 
Brigadier General and Military Governor. 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

Mektixg of the National Union Convention at Baltimore — The Vice Presi- 
dency — Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, opposes the Admission of Tennessee i 
and Louisiana — Nomination to Vice-Presidency conceded to New York 

— Ballot in the New York Delegation — D. S. Dickinson in great favor — 
His Claims urged by Lyman Tremain — II. J. Raymond in favor of a 
Border State War Democrat, nominates Andrew Johnson — Remarks of 
Preston King, C. B. Cochrane, G. W. Curtis — Would Dickinson's Nomi- 
nation eject Seward from the Cabinet? — Raymond Protests — The Pur- 
pose disavowed — A Ballot in favor of Johnson — Discontent of Dickinson's 
Friends — They determine to exclude the Border States — Preston King pres- 
ses their Admission — Nomination of Johnson — Mass Meeting in Nashville 

— Governor Johnson's Address Ratifying the Lincoln Policy — National To- 
pics— Aristocracy theessential Spirit of the Rebellion — Dead Slavery — In- 
vitation to Emigrants — Traitors not Citizens — Tells Truths to Shoulder- 
straps — Mexico — Johnson's Official Letter of Acceptance. 

When the National Union Convention assembled, its 
work so far as the nomination of a candidate for the Presi- 
dency was concerned, was already done. The people had 
decided that question in advance, and Mr. Lincoln was the 
only name mentioned. With the exception of Missouri, 
every State, through its delegates, gave him its undivided 
vote. But in regard to the candidate for Vice-President, 
there was no such unity of sentiment. That subject had 
not been canvassed, and the convention assembled in entire 
ignorance of the candidates that would be named. Many 
judicious men believed that the wisest course would be to 
re-nominate Mr. Hamlin, but this it was perceived by 
others would be to ignore entirely the claims of that very 
large body of Democrats who had discarded their party 
obligations in the presence of a national peril and had sus- 
tained the Administration in the prosecution of the war. 
Others looked to the policy of conceding this nomination 

(285) 



286 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

to the army, and sought among its officers for a suitable 
candidate. The delegates from Tennessee and Louisiana 
thought the Border States ousrht to be considered, but as 
their first anxiety was to secure the admission of those 
States into the Convention, which had been most vehemently 
resisted by Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, and others, at the 
very outset, they deemed it wise to postpone the presenta- 
tion of any claims of this kind. Bv general consent it 
seemed after a little time to be conceded that the State of 
New York might nominate the candidate for Vice-President 
and that her choice would be the choice of the Convention : 
and this concession seemed to have been prompted, in a large 
degree, by the belief that New York would present her 
own son, Daniel S. Dickinson, whose devotion to the country 
during the war had wiped out all hostile memory of his 
previous political course, and who was regarded as unques- 
tionably the strongest candidate for the Vice-Presidency by 
the members of the Convention at large. 

At the first meeting of the Xew York delegation on the 
6th of June, the subject was canvassed in a cursory manner 
and an informal ballot was taken merely to ascertain the 
preferences of individual members. This ballot gave 28 
votes for Hamlin, 16 for Dickinson, 6 for Tremain and 8 
for Andrew Johnson. Of these the six votes given to Tre- 
main were actually Dickinson votes, as were also a part of 
those given for Johnson. The meeting then adjourned to 
the next morning, and the outside canvass became animated 
— the friends of Mr. Dickinson being especially zealous and 
resolute and none opposing him on any other grounds than 
those of expediency. It was generally understood by the 
members of the Convention that there was a sharp differ- 
ence of opinion in the Xew York Delegation, and this 
knowledge strengthened their purpose to await the action 
of that State. 

The meeting in the morning was opened by a careful, 



OF AXDBE W JOHXS OX. 237 

eloquent and effective speech of half an hour by Hon. 
Lyman Tremain in favor of the nomination of Mr. Dickin- 
son. Mr. Tremain urged with great force the claims of 
the War Democracy to this nomination, insisting that it 
would be most unjust as well as unwise to disregard the 
sacrifices of political feeling and of party ties which they 
had made, and declaring that, as he had never been a Re- 
publican, he should feel that he had no place in this organi- 
zation if both candidates should be selected from the Repub- 
lican party. He then presented Mr. Dickinson as the 
candidate of the War Democrats, setting forth, in very 
graphic and impressive words, the noble and patriotic man- 
ner in which Mr. Dickinson had broken away from the 
Democratic party when it became disloyal, and the political 
sacrifices he had thus made for the good of the couutrv. He 
spoke warmly, also, of his eloquent appeals to the patriotism 
of the country during the war and of the eminent services 
he had thus rendered the Government in the suppression of 
the rebellion : and he closed by presenting him to the 
Delegates of his own State and by urging them by every 
consideration of State pride and of personal admiration to 
make him their candidate before the Convention. 

Hon. H. J. Raymond, who was also one of the delegates at 
large from the State, following Mr. Tremain. benan by ac- 
quiescing in everything he had said of the claims of the 
War Democrats to the gratitude of the country and the 
kindest and most favorable consideration of the Convention. 
He recognized fully the patriotism which had led them to 
discard all mere party ties and to take that action which had 
contributed so largely to the prosecution of the war. He 
concurred also in even-thing that had been said of Mr. 
Dickinson in the Convention : he knew his worth and ap- 
preciated fully his eminent services in the national cause. 
But he thought we should do injustice to ourselves and to 
the War Democracv of'the whole Union if we restricted our 



2S8 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

acknowledgments to our own State. Much as Mr. Dickin- 
son had suffered and done in the cause of the nation, there 
were other Democrats who had done and suffered more. 
Highly as Mr. Raymond appreciated the labors of distin- 
guished men in the North who had thrown their weight into 
the loyal scale, lie believed that the salvation of the country 
would be due, primarily and mainly, to those noble hearts in 
the Border States who had not only discarded every party 
tie, but who had thrown to the winds all the prejudices of 
the section in which they lived, all the teachings of their 
childhood, all the pride of State Rights, all their interests 
in Slavery, every thing which might be supposed to have 
most weight with men in their condition, — and had suffered 
in the Union, in their property, their families and their per- 
sons to a degree of which we in the Northern States could 
form but a faint conception. After some further remarks in 
the same direction, Mr. Ravmond nominated Andrew John- 
son as a War Democrat and as the man to whom, more than 
to any other one person not in the Government or in the 
army, the country was indebted for aid in putting down the 
Rebellion, and as one who by his course in the Senate and 
in every public station he had been called to fill, had proved 
his claim to public confidence and favor. 

Hon. Preston King made a few remarks mainly upon the 
impolicy of selecting a candidate from the State of New 
York, since anv selection that might be made would lead 
inevitably, in consequence of the peculiar relations of politi- 
cal parties, to discontent in one quarter or another. It was 
well known, lie said, that there was a very large body of 
former Democrats in that State who, though acting now 
cordially and zealously with Mr. Dickinson, could not forget 
that they left the Democratic party long before he did, and 
that his course toward them for many years had not been 
calculated to conciliate their favor or support. He thought 
therefore that it would be wiser to select the candidate from 



OF AND BE W JOHNS OK 289 

some other State. Hon. C. B. Cochrane, who had first 
voted for Mr. Hamlin, next followed in warm advocacy of 
Mr. Dickinson, with whom politically he said he had never 
acted, but for whose ability and patriotism he had the most 
profound respect. Mr. Geo. W. Curtis, one of the secre- 
taries of the delegation, made an eloquent and effective ap- 
peal on the same side, and said that from the turn the debate 
had taken and the persons who had shared in the discussion, 
it was very evident that the main reason which led a large 
portion of the delegates to oppose Mr. Dickinson's nomina- 
tion was the certainty that it would render necessary Mr. 
Seward's withdrawal from the Cabinet, as two such posts could 
not be given to one State ; and he thought it quite time that 
the real motive of their opposition to Mr. Dickinson should 
be understood. ' Mr. Raymond replied that he could only 
regard this as a virtual declaration that Mr. Dickinson must 
be nominated/or the purpose of ejecting Mr. Seward from 
the Cabinet ; and while he should very gladly assent to any 
change in the Cabinet which the good of the country might 
require, he protested against such an attempt to use Mr. 
Dickinson as an instrument for degrading Mr. Seward. 

This led to disavowals of any such purpose and to a con- 
versational though very animated discussion, after which 
a formal ballot was taken, which resulted in giving Dickin- 
son 29, Johnson 30, Hamlin 7, Holt 1 ; but before it was 
announced two more votes were given to Johnson — so that 
it finally stood, Johnson 32, Dickinson 29, Hamlin 6. Upon 
Mr. Raymond's motion, it was then resolved that the vote 
just taken should be announced in Convention as the vote 
of New York on the first ballot ; and the delegation then 
adjourned to meet at the call of the Chairman, Hon. John 
A. King. 

After the adjournment the outside canvass became very 
animated — Mr. Dickinson's New York friends being deter- 
mined to overrule the action of the delegation and to make 
19 



290 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

him the candidate. At one time it seemed almost certain 
that he would be the nominee, and various names of new 
men were suggested by different delegations. This led to a 
consultation among some of the New York supporters of Mr. 
Johnson, who were further embarrassed by the fact that the 
delegation from Tennessee had not vet been admitted to the 
Convention, and the friends of Mr. Dickinson were resolute 
in their purpose to exclude all the Border States, as having 
properly no representatives of the Union party. Hon. 
Horace Maynard, who was one of the delegates from Ten- 
nessee, was active and very influential in pressing the claims 
of his State to admission, and it was resolved by the dele- 
gates from New York, who had voted for Mr. Johnson, to 
insist upon the admission of Tennessee and to stand by John- 
son as their candidate. 

At the opening of the session of the Convention, the Com- 
mittee on Credentials reported against the admission of 
delegates from Tennessee, in conformity with the views 
presented by Hon. Thad. Stevens of Pennsylvania, at the 
opening of the Convention. Hon. Preston King, alone of 
the committee, dissented from this conclusion, and made a 
minority report, which, with remarkable courage and skillful 
management, he pressed upon the action of the Convention. 
The vote was taken amidst great confusion, and at one time 
Mr. King's motion to admit Tennessee was lost ; but before 
any result was declared the struggle was renewed, and the 
result was described, with substantial accuracy as to the 
facts, though in a very unfair tone, in the New York Tribune 
of the next day, which said : 

" On the admission of Tennessee, she was rejected by de- 
cided and increasing majorities, until Neiu York gave her 
forty-four votes. The secesh applause was tremendous and 
instantly infectious. Ohio voted forty-two, and right off 
eight States that had voted nay, caved in and changed theii 
votes." 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 2 9 1 

The delegates from Tennessee were thus admitted, and 
renewed with activity and zeal their canvass for Mr. John- 
Bon. After the adoption of the platform and the nomination 
of Mr. Lincoln for President, the ballot for Vice-President 
was called. Some of the New York delegates called for a 
new canvass of the delegation, but under the resolution of 
the previous day this was declined, and the vote of New 
York announced as, 32 for Johnson, 29 for Dickinson, G for 
Hamlin. The aggregate vote of the Convention gave John- 
son 200, Hamlin 145, Dickinson 113 ; but before it was 
declared, Hon S. Cameron, after consultation with Mr. Ray- 
mond of the New York delegation, and with the assent of 
his own, announced that Pennsylvania, which had voted for 
Hamlin, now cast her vote for Johnson. Other States at 
once followed the example, and the nomination was finally 
made unanimous. 

New York may well feel proud of her choice, and in view 
of subsequent events, the delegates who so persistently rec- 
ognized the Democratic element, as having powerfully aided 
to achieve peace and put down Rebellion, deserve not only 
the thankful congratulations of the loyal States, but of those 
returning States which receive the benefits of President 
Johnson's wise and generous views on reorganization. 

When the result of the Baltimore Convention was known, 
a Union mass meeting was held at Nashville, where the 
presence of Governor Johnson was hailed with great accla- 
mation. No man could truthfully say that he had asked 
his influence in behalf of the position for which he was nomi- 
nated, or for any other. On the contrary, he had avoided 
the candidacy. While it was conferred unsought it was 
appreciated the more highly. He accepted the nomination 
on principle, and in the address to his fellow-citizens at 
Nashville, he spoke with his characteristic fearlessness on 
the principal topics of the day, and especially those identi- 
fied with the policy ratified by the re-nomination of Presi- 



292 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

dent Lincoln. The nomination lie thought equivalent to 
saying, not only to the United State?, but to all the nations 
of the earth, that we were determined to maintain and carry 
out the principles of free government. The Convention had 
announced that the right of secession and the power of a 
State to place itself outside of the Union are not recognized. 
Tennessee had been in rebellion against the Government, 
and waged a treasonable war, just as other Southern States 
had done. She had seceded just as much as other States 
had, and left the Union as far as she had any power to do 
so. Nevertheless, the National Convention had declared 
that a State cannot put itself from under the national au- 
thority. It said by its first nomination, that the present 
President, take him altogether, was the man to steer the 
ship of State for the next four years. Next it said — if he 
might be permitted to speak for himself, not in the way of 
vanity, but to illustrate a principle — " We will go into one 
of the rebellious States and choose a candidate for the Vice- 
Presidency." Thus, the Union party declared its belief that 
the rebellious States are still in the Union, and that their 
loyal citizens are still citizens of the United States. Our 
duty is to sustain the Government, and help it with all our 
might to crush out a rebellion which is in violation of all 
that is right and sacred. 

He held up the aristocracy of the slave States as having 
been their bane, nor did he believe the Nortli wholly free 
from the curse of aristocracy. One of the chief elements, 
he believes, of this rebellion, was the opposition of the slave 
aristocracy to be ruled by men who have risen from the 
ranks of the people. And it just occurred to him that if it 
was so violently opposed to being governed by Mr. Lincoln, 
what in the name of conscience would it do with Lincoln 
and Johnson. 

Governor Johnson avowed himself as opposed, in the case 
of a Convention to restore his State, to permit those to par- 



OF ANDRE W JOHNS ON. 293 

ticipate in it who had given all their influence and means to 
destroy it. They should undergo a purifying ordeal. The 
most honest and industrious foreigner, who sought America, 
had to dwell five years with us until he became a citizen. 
If we were so cautious about foreigners, who voluntarily 
renounce their homes to live with us, what should we sav to 
the traitors who, born and reared here, sought to destroy 
the Government which always protected them. 

Upon the slavery and emancipation questions, Governor 
Johnson was not less direct or explicit, but the occasion 
warrants the re-production of this clear and spirited expo- 
sition of National and State policy. 

" Governor Johnson said lie had no impassioned appeal to make to 
the people in his own behalf. He had not sought the position 
assigned him by the National Convention. Not a man in all the 
land can trutlifuhy say that I have asked him to use his influence in 
my behalf in that body, for the position allotted me, or for any 
other. On the contrary, I have avoided the candidacy. But while 
I have not sought it, still being conferred upon me unsought, I ap- 
preciate it the more highly. Being conferred on me without solici- 
tation, I shall not decline it. [Applause.] Come weal or woe, suc- 
cess or defeat, sink or swim, survive or perish, I accept the nomina- 
tion on principle, be the consequences what they may. I will do 
what I believe to be my duty. 

" I know there are those here who profess to feel a contempt for 
me, and I, on the other hand, feel my superiority to them. I have 
always understood that there is a sort of exclusive aristocracy about 
Nashville which affects to contemn all who are not within its little 
circle. Let them enjoy their opinions. I have heard it said that 

' Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow.' 

" This aristocracy has been the bane of the slave States; nor has 
the North been wholly free from its curse. It is a class which I have 
always forced to respect me, for I have ever set it at defiance. The 
respect of the honest, intelligent and industrious class I have en- 
deavored to win by my conduct as a man. One of the chief elements 
of this rebellion is the opposition of the slave aristocracy to being 
ruled by men who have risen from the ranks of the peop^. This 
aristocracy hated Mr. Lincoln because he was of humble origin, a rail- 



294 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

splitter in early life. One of them, the private Secretary of Howell 
Cobb, said to me one day, after a long conversation, ' We people of 
the South will not submit to be governed by a man who has come 
up from the ranks of the common people, as Abe Lincoln has.' He 
uttered the essential feeling and spirit of this Southern rebellion. 
Now it has just occurred to me, if this aristocracy is so violently op- 
posed to being governed by Mr. Lincoln, what in the name of 
conscience will it do with Lincoln and Johnson. [Great laughter.] 
I reject with scorn this whole idea of an arrogant aristocracy. 

" I believe that man is capable of self-government, irrespective of 
outward circumstances, and whether he be a laborer, a shoemaker, 
a tailor or grocer. The question is whether a man is capable of self- 
government. I hold with Jefferson that government was made for 
the convenience of man, and not man for the government ; that laws 
and constitutions were designed as mere instruments to promote his 
welfare. And hence from this principle I conclude that govern- 
ments can and ought to be changed and amended to conform to the 
wants, to the requirements and progress of the people, and the en- 
lightened spirit of the age. [Loud applause.] Now, if any of you 
secessionists have lost faith in man's capability of self-government, 
and feel unfit for the exercise of this great right, go straight to rebel- 
dom, take Jeff. Davis, Beauregard and Bragg for your masters, and 
put their collars on your necks. 

" And here let me say, that now is the time to recur to these fun- 
damental principles. While the land is rent with anarchy and up- 
heaved with the throes of a mighty revolution ; while society is in 
this disordered state, and we are seeking security, let us fix the 
foundations of the Government on principles of eternal justice, which 
will endure for all time. 

" There is an element in our midst who are for perpetuating the 
institution of slavery. Let me say to you, Tennesseeans and men 
from the Northern States, that slavery is dead. It was not murdered 
by me. I told you long ago what the result would be if you en- 
deavored to go out of the Union to save slavery, and that the result 
would be bloodshed, rapine, devastated fie 1 els, plundered villages and 
cities; and therefore I urged you to remain in the Union. In trying 
to save slavery you killed it, and lost your own freedom. Your 
slavery is dead, but I did not murder it. As Macbeth said to Ban- 
quo's bloody ghost : 

4 Never shake thy gory locks at me, 
Thou canst not say I did it.' 

" Slavery is dead, and you must pardon me if I do not mourn over 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 295 

its dead body ; you can bury it out of sight. In restoring the State 
leave out that disturbing and dangerous element, and use only those 
parts of the machinery -which will move in harmony. 

" Now, in regard to emancipation, I want to say to the blacks that 
liberty means liberty to work and enjoy the fruits of your labor. 
Idleness is not freedom. I desire that all men shall have a fair start 
and an equal chance in the race of life, and let him succeed who has 
the most merit. This, I think, is a principle of heaven. I am for 
emancipation for two reasons : first, because it is right in itself; and 
second, because in the emancipation of the slaves, we break down an 
odious and dangerous aristocracy. I think that we are freeing 
more whites than blacks in Tennessee. 

" I want to see slavery broken ujj, and when its barriers are thrown 
down, I want to see industrious, thrifty immigrants pouring in from 
all part of the country. Come on ! we need your labor, your skill, 
your capital. We want your enterprise and invention, so that here- 
after Tennessee may rank with New England in the arts and me- 
chanics, and that when we visit the Patent Office at Washington, 
where the ingenious mechanics of the free States have placed their 
models, we need not blush that Tennessee can show nothing but a 
mouse-trap or something of about as much importance. Come on I 
We greet you with a hearty welcome to the soil of Tennessee. Here 
is soil the most fertile in every agricultural product ; a delightful 
and healthy climate, forests, water-power and mines of inexhaustible 
richness ; come and help us to redeem Tennessee and make her a 
powerful and flourishing State ! 

" But in calling a convention to restore the State, who shall restore 
and re-establish it ? Shall it be the man who gave his influence and his 
means to destroy the Government ? Is he to participate in the great 
work of reorganization ? Shall he who brought this misery upon 
the State be permitted to control its destinies ? If this be so, then 
all this precious blood of our brave soldiers and officers so freely 
poured out, will have been wautonly spilled. All the glorious vic- 
tories won by our noble armies will go for naught, and all the battle- 
fields which have been sown with dead heroes during this Rebellion, 
will have been made memorable in vain. Why all this carnage and 
devastation ? It was that treason might be put down and traitors 
punished. Therefore I say that traitors should take a back seat in the 
work of restoration. If there be but five thousand men in Ten- 
nessee, loyal to the Constitution, loyal to freedom, loyal to justice, 
these true and faithful men should control the work of reorganiza- 
tion and reformation absolutely. [Loud and prolonged applause.] 
I say that the traitor has ceased to be a citizen, and in joining the 



296 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Rebellion, has become a public enemy. He forfeited bis right to 
vote with loyal men when he renounced his citizenship and sought 
to destroy our Government. We say to the most honest and in- 
dustrious foreigner who comes from England or Germany, to dwell 
among us, and add to the wealth of the country, ' Before you can 
be a citizen you must stay here for five years.' If we are so cau- 
tious about foreigners, who voluntarily renounce their homes to live 
with us, what should we say to the traitor, who, although born and 
reared among us, has raised a paricidal hand against the Govern- 
ment -which always protected him ? My judgment is that he should 
be subjected to a severe ordeal before he is restored to citizenship. 
A fellow who takes the oath merely to save his property, and denies 
the validity of the oath, is a perjured man and not to be trusted. 
Before these repenting rebels can be trusted, let them bring forth 
the fruits of repentance. He who helped to make all these widows 
and orphans, who drape the streets of Nashville in mourning, should 
suffer for his great crime. The work is in our own hand?. We can 
destroy this Rebellion. With Grant thundering on the Potomac 
before Richmond, and Sherman and Thomas on their march towards 
Atlanta, the day will ere long be ours. Will any madly persist in 
rebellion ? Suppose that an equal number be slain in every battle, 
it is plain that the result must be the utter extermination of the 
rebels. Ah, these rebel leaders have a strong personal reason for 
holding out to save their necks from the halter. And these leaders 
must feel the power of the Government. Treason must be made 
odious, and traitors must be punished and impoverished. Their 
great p] »ns must be seized and divided into small farms, and 

sold to honest, industrious men. The day for protecting the lands 
and negroes of these authors of rebellion is past. It is high time 
it was. 

" I have been most deeply pained at some things which have come 
under my observation. We get men in command who, under the 
influence of flattery, fawning and caressing, grant protection to the 
rich traitor, while the poor Union man stands out in the cold, often 
unable to get a receipt or a voucher for his losses. [Cries of ' That's 
so !' from all parts of the crowd.] The traitor can get lucrative- 
contracts, while the loyal man is pushed aside unable to obtain a 
recognition of his just claims. I am telling the truth. I care 
nothing for stripes and shoulder straps. I want them all to hear 
what I say. I have been on a gridiron for two years at the sight of 
these abuses. I blame not the Government for these wrongs, which 
are the work of weak or faithless subordinates. Wrongs will be 
committed under every form of government and every administra- 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 297 

tion. For myself I mean to stand by the Government till the flag 
of the Union shall wave over every city, town, hill-top and cross- 
road in its full power and majesty. 

" The nations of Europe are anxious for our overthrow. France 
takes advantage of our internal difficulties and sends Maximilian off 
to Mexico to set up a monarchy on our Borders. The day of reckon- 
ing is approaching. The time is not far distant when the Rebellion 
will be put down, and then we will attend to this Mexican affair 
and say to Louis Napoleon, • You can get up no monarchy on this 
continent.' [Great applause.] An expedition into Mexico would 
be a sort of recreation to the brave soldiers who are now fk-htins: 
the battles of the Union, and the French concern would quickly be 
wiped out. Let us be united. I know that there are but two 
parties now, one for the country and the other against it, and I am 
for my country. 

" I am a democrat in the strict meaning of the term. I am for 
this Government because it is democratic — a Government of the 
people. I am for putting down this Rebellion because it is war 
against democracy. He who stands off stirring up discontent in 
this State and higgling about negroes, is practically in the rebel 
camp and encourages treason. He who in Indiana or Ohio makes 
war upon the Government out of regard for slavery is just as bad. 
The salvation of the country is now the only business which con- 
cerns the patriot. 

" In conclusion, let us give our thanks, not formal but heartfelt 
thanks, to these gallant officers and soldiers who have come to our 
rescue and delivered us from the Rebellion. And though money be 
expended, though life be lost, though farms and cities be desolated, 
let the war for the Union go on, and the Stars and Stripes be bathed, 
if need be, in a nation's blood, till law be restored, and freedom 
firmly established." 

Governor Johnson retired amid loud and continued cheering, and 
the large crowd dispersed to their homes. 

Governor Johnson's official acceptance of the nomination 
is as follows : 

Nashville, Tenn., July 2, 1864. 
Hon. William: Dexnison, Chairman, and others, Committee of the 
National Union Convention : 
Gentlemen, — Your communication of the 9th ult., informing me" 
of my nomination for the Vice-Presidency of the United States, by 
the National Convention held at Baltimore, and enclosing a copy of 
13* 



298 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the resolutions adopted by that body, was not received until the 
25th ult. 

A reply on my part had been previously made to the action of the 
Convention in presenting my name, in a speech delivered in this city 
on the evening succeeding the day of the adjournment of the Con- 
vention, in which I indicated my acceptance of the distinguished 
honor conferred by that body, and defined the grounds upon -which 
that acceptance was based, substantially saying what I now have to 
say. From the comments made upon that speech by the various 
presses of the country to which my attention has been directed, I 
considered it to be regarded as a full acceptance. 

In view, however, of the desire expressed in your communication, 
I will more fully allude to a few points that have been heretofore 
presented. 

My opinions on the leading questions at present agitating and 
distracting the public mind and especially in reference to the rebel- 
lion now being waged against the Government and authority of the 
United Stat??, I presume, are generally understood. Before the 
Southern people assumed a belligerent attitude (and repeatedly 
since), I took occasion most frankly to declare the views I then 
entertained in relation to the wicked purposes of the Southern poli- 
ticians. They have since undergone but little, if any, change. Time 
and subsequent events have rather confirmed than diminished my 
confidence in their correctness. 

At the beginning of this great struggle, I entertained the same 
opinion of it I do now, and in my place in the Senate, I denounced 
it as treason, worthy of the punishment of death, and warned the 
Government and people of the impending danger. But my voice 
was not heard or council heeded until it was too late to avert the 
6torm. It still continued to gather over us without molestation 
from the authorities at Washington, until at length it broke with 
all its fury upon the country. And now, if we would- save the 
Government from being overwhelmed by it, we must meet it in the 
true spirit of patriotism, and bring the traitors to the punishment due 
their crime, and hy force of arms, crush out and subdue the last 
vestige of rebel authority in eveiy State. I felt then as now, thai 
the destruction of the Government was deliberately determined 
upon by wicked and designing conspirators, whose lives and for- 
tunes were pledged to carry it out, and that no compromise, short 
of an unconditional recognition of the independence of the Southern 
States, could have been, or could now be proposed, which they 
would accept. The clamor for " Southern rights," as the rebel 
journals were pleased to designate their rallying ciy, was not to 









OF ANDIIE W JOHNS OK 2 99 

secure. their assumed rights in the Union and under the Constitu- 
tion, but to disrupt the Government, and establish an independent 
organization, based upon slavery, which they could at all times 
control. , 

The separation of the Government has for years past been the 
cherished purpose of the Southern leaders. Baffled, iu 1833, by the 
stern, patriotic heroism of Andrew Jackson, they sullenly acquiesced, 
only to mature their diabolical schemes, and await the recurrence of 
a more favorable opportunity to execute them. Then the pretext 
w as the tariff, and Jackson, after foiling their schemes of nullifica- 
tion and di3uuiou, with prophetic perspicacity, warned the country 
agaiust the renewal of their efforts to dismember the Government. 

In a letter, dated May 1, 1833, to the Rev. A. J. Crawford, after 
demonstrating the heartless insincerity of the Southern nullificrs, he 
said: " Therefore the tariff was only a pretext and disunion, and a 
Southern Confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be tlie 
' 'eery question.'''' 
Time has fally verified this prediction, and we have now not only 
" the it jr >, or slavery question,'''' as the pretext, but the real cause of 
the Rebellion, and both must go down together. It is vain to 
attempt to reconstruct the Union with the distracting element of 
slavery in it. Experience has demonstrated its incompatibility with 
free and republican Governments, and it would be unwise and unjust 
longer to continue it as one of the institutions of the country. 
While it remained subordinate to the Constitution and laws of the 
United States, I yielded to it my support; but when it became 
rebellious and attempted to' rise above the Government, and control 
its action, I threw my humble influence against it. 

The authority of the Government is supreme, and will admit of no 
rivalry. No institution can rise above it, whether it be slavery or 
any other organized power. In our happy form of Government all 
must be subordinate to the will of the people, when reflected 
through the Constitution and laws made pursuant thereto — State or 
Federal. This great principle lies at the foundation of every gov- 
ernment, and cannot be disregarded without the destruction of the 
Government itself. In the support and practice of correct princi- 
ples we can never reach wrong results ; and by rigorously adhering 
to this great fundamental truth the end will be the preservation of 
the Union and the overthrow of an institution which has made war 
upon, and attempted the destruction of the Government itself. 

The mode by which this great change — the emancipation of the 
slave — can be effected, is properly found in the power to amend the 
Constitution of the United States. This plan is effectual, and of no 



300 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

doubtful authority; and while it does not contravene the timely 
exercise of the War Power by the President in his Emancipation 
Proclamation, it comes stamped with the authority of the people 
themselves, acting in accordance with the written rule of the supreme 
law of the land, and must therefore give more general satisfaction 
and quietude to the distracted public mind. 

By recurring to the principles contained in the resolutions so 
unanimously adopted by the Convention, I find that they substanti- 
ally accord with my public acts and opinions heretofore made known 
and expressed, and are therefore most cordially endorsed and ap- 
proved ; and the nomination having been conferred without any 
solicitation on my part, is, with the greater pleasure, accepted. 

In accepting the nomination, I might here close, but I cannot 
forego the opportunity of saying to my old friends of the demo- 
cratic party proper, with whom I have so long and pleasantly been 
associated, that the hour has now come when that great party can 
justly vindicate its devotion to true democratic policy and measures 
of expediency. The war is a war of great principles. It involves 
the supremacy and life of the Government itself. If the Rebellion 
triumphs, free government — North and South— fails. If, on the 
other hand, the Government is successful— as I do not doubt — its 
destiny is fixed, its basis permanent and enduring, and its career of 
honor and glory just begun. In a great contest like this for the 
existence of free government, the path of duty is patriotism and 
principle. Minor considerations and questions of administrative 
policy should give way to the higher duty of first preserving tlie 
Cor t, and then there will be time enough to wrangle over the 

men and measures pertaining to its administration. 

This is not the hour for strife and division among ourselves. 
Such differences of opinion only encourage the enemy, prolong the 
war and waste the country. Unity of action and concentration of 
power should be our watchword and rallying cry. This accom- 
plished, the time will rapidly approach when their armies in the 
field, the great j)ower of the Rebellion will be broken and crushed 
by our gallant officers and brave soldiers, and ere long they will 
return to their homes and firesides to resume again the avocations 
of peace, with the proud consciousness that they have aided in the 
noble work of re-establishing, upon a surer and more permanent 
basis, the great temple of American Freedom. 

I am, gentlemen, with sentiments of high regard, 

Yours truly, Andrew Johnson. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE CANDIDATES AND CANVASS OF 1864. 

Nominations of Parties for President and Vice-President — Generals fremont 
and Cochrane withdraw — General McClellan, a good Soldier and Patriot, 
falls into Evil Hands — Mr. Pendleton a Disunionist — The Plot of the 
"Peace" Democrats — McClellan's Letter for War confuses them — The 
Chicago Candidates diametrically opposed — The real Question " Union " or 
"Disunion" — Lincoln and Johnson the Representatives of Union — Was 
the War a Failure? Secretary Chase's Reply — The Army Successes ruin 
the Chicagoites — Military History of 1364, its Losses and Gains — Perma- 
nent Achievements of Union Generals — Wails from the South sound the 
Death of " Peace" Sedition in the North — Reorganization of Tennessee — 
Letters and Speeches by Governor Johnson — Negro Equality a Humbug — 
On his Early Life — Orders an Election and prescribes a Test Oath — Protest 
against it presented to President Lincoln, its Reception — A Moses for the 
Enthralled Race — Elected Vice-President — Inaugural Speech — Unmean- 
ing Censure — The Fall of Richmond — Great Enthusiasm — Johnson's 
Speech in Washington. 

A week previous to the nomination of Abraham Lincoln 
and Andrew Johnson at Baltimore, a Convention assembled 
at Cleveland, 0., and nominated John C. Fremont for the 
Presidency and John Cochrane for the Vice-Presidency. 
On the 29th of August the "Democratic" Convention assem- 
bled at Chicago, and on the 31st nominated George B. 
McClellan and George H. Pendleton as candidates for the 
same offices. Generals Fremont and Cochrane subsequently 
withdrew, indicating with various personal and political 
reservations and explanations their preferences for Mr. Lin- 
coln : so the Presidential Contest was between the respec- 
tive supporters of the Baltimore and Chicago nominees. 

It is unnecessary to reiterate the position occupied by Mr. 
Lincoln and Governor Johnson. General McClellan was a 

(301) 



302 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

gentleman of excellent nature and sympathies, a soldier of 
distinguished ability and a patriot of undoubted purity. 
His military successes had been achieved at epochs of such 
general gloom that his failures or want of success, from 
whatever cause, at other periods were overlooked by the 
masses of the people. Great responsibilities had devolved 
upon him at moments of national peril and disaster ; and 
he successfully retrieved, if he did not permanently exalt, 
the national character. He is not fairly to be judged by 
contrast with the greater successes which followed, but by 
the disorder which reigned before him. He was greatly 
beloved by the soldiers, and their affection extending in 
a large degree to the masses, pointed him out as the most 
popular man for the purposes of the anti-administration- 
ists. As a candidate little fault could be found with 
General McClellan ; but the antecedents and present pur- 
poses of the managers, by whose intrigues an anti-national 
platform was adopted at the Chicago Convention, were not 
such as to command either private respect or public enthu- 
siasm. Had General McClellan exercised the same caution 
toward his political friends he had on some occasions ex- 
hibited to the country's enemies, he would not have per- 
mitted himself to be surrounded by men who had no faith 
in national honor, no hope of national success, and no charity 
save for those in arms against the life of the Republic. 

Mr. Pendleton much more suitably filled the desires and 
designs of these men. He was comparatively unknown. He 
never made a figure in Congress ; and could not by any 
means be considered a leader in that body or out of it. 
What he had done since the secession had taken place tended 
to encourage it and weaken the National Government. In 
January, 1861, when four States had seceded, he delivered a 
calm and carefully prepared speech, in which, while express- 
ing great solicitude for the Union, he avowed his belief that 
in the face of united action by the seceding States, the Con- 



of Andrew jonysonr. 303 

stitution of the United States was a virtual nullity and did 
not provide for the execution of its own clauses. He did 
not see how we could carry out the enactments of the su- 
preme law of the Republic if the people of the seceding 
States were opposed to our so doing. He clearly mistook 
the spirit of the Constitution while expressing his own sen- 
timent against coercion. Because he did not think it feasi- 
ble to carry out the spirit of the Constitution which author- 
izes Congress to raise and support an army and navy ; and 
" provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of 
the Union, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion" — be- 
cause he thought we had not strength to do it, he expressed 
himself as though we had no right to do it. Deeming it im- 
practicable, he completely overlooked the constitutional right 
and the constitutional duty to attempt it. He was for letting 
the seceded States go, and instituted a parallel — degrading to 
the revolutionary fathers of 1776 — between the Colonies and 
Great Britain, and the rebellious States and the Union. 
While Mr. Pendleton's talents were certainly respectable, he 
was, until his nomination at Chicago, the least known of the 
Ohio representatives ; which fact, in the minds of party tac- 
ticians, was doubtless not the least recommendation to his 
availability as a candidate for the Vice Presidency. It was 
thought his nomination would not materially affect McClel- 
lan, while at the same time a recognition of the peace policy 
might be surreptitiously achieved, and thus receive the osten- 
sible endorsement of the people at the election. General 
McClellan's letter of acceptance, in which he declared him- 
self in favor of prosecuting the war, however, completely 
turned the tables on these managers. The Peace men re- 
belled against him, saying he did not accept the platform ; 
and fell back on Pendleton, who was thus made to act a 
more important part in the drama, than the McClellan man- 
agers — who regarded him as a comparative nonentity — or 
he himself ever dreamed of. Thus the ostensible war party 



304 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

and the professed peace party which fraternized at Chicago, 
found that they had been respectively cheated by each other. 
These developments were fraught with great importance to 
the people ; and no clear thinking man could have a rational 
doubt as to the result of the contest. Having sacrificed 
General McClellan, his political managers made a violent 
show of earnestness in the campaign: hoping by extravagant 
and malignant abuse of the national Executive to infer a 
devotion to their own candidate. 

But the question at issue became narrowed down to the 
great and simple point : Should the traitors be encouraged, 
or the war for the Union endorsed? It was not a time for 
party. If " party," as a phrase, was to be recognized, it was 
only as indicating a Union party or a Disunion party : a 
party to save the Union by the arbitrament of the sword to 
which the traitors had appealed ; or a party to dissolve the 
Union by overtures to the rebel chiefs or by the reception 
of such overtures from them as would make our dead heroes 
turn in their martyr graves. Before the world Mr. Lincoln 
was the recognized head of the Union party, as distinguished 
from Jefferson Davis as the representative man of Disunion. 
Those unfriendly to the United States, at home and abroad, 
had made war on Mr. Lincoln as the representative of the 
Union cause and army ; and both the seceded States and 
sympathizers in foreign States looked forward to Mr. Lin- 
coln's defeat as a defeat to the cause of the Union, and as a 
virtual recognition by the people of the doctrines for which 
Davis and his Generals had fought the Government of their 
fathers. On the other hand, the re-election of Mr. Lincoln 
and the election of Governor Johnson was an unquestionable 
guarantee to the people and the world that the cause of the 
Union would not be permitted to droop or waver ; that in 
the words of Johnson, no peace or compromise could be 
thought of until the rebels grounded their arms in submis- 
sion to the national authority and law. Thus the fact be- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 305 

came settled in thoughtful minds that the success of Lincoln 
and Johnson was the success of nationality ; their defeat, 
the success of secession. These considerations placed the 
chances of the Chicago nominees out of the question. More- 
over, those who desired to support McClellan on principle, 
found in Johnson a War Democrat whose sacrifices and 
sufferings more fully illustrated the principle and com- 
manded wider sympathy. If a man so tried as Johnson 
could support Lincoln, assuredly they as War Democrats 
could do likewise; and relieve themselves of contamination 
with the doctrines represented by Mr. Pendleton. 

Other and equally convincing reasons were writing them- 
selves on the page of history in justification of a loyal in- 
dorsement of the war policy. With equal want of truth 
and taste — considering the intention to nominate a soldier 
on it, and the hope to gain soldiers' votes in its favor — the 
Chicago platform declared the war a failure. The wish 
was father to the statement. It was also untrue. The Mis- 
sissippi was open, which had been lined from Cairo to the 
mouth with rebel batteries. When Farragut went past 
Forts Jackson and Philip, and met their " invincible" fleet 
upon the Mississippi, and by one of the greatest achieve- 
ments known to history, took New Orleans, and Vicksburg 
fell before Grant, then the Father of Waters was virtually, 
and in fact, open from the source to the gulf. As ex-Secre- 
tary Chase said at the time in reply to this statement : 
"Three years ago Kentucky was doubtful. Kentucky, I 
think, will vote the Union ticket in a few days. That is 
not a failure. Tennessee, so far as a Disunion legislature 
could effect it, was taken out of the Union. Now, Tennessee 
is under the government of Andrew Johnson, who is as loyal 
a man as breathes. Well, that is not a failure. Missouri 
was doubtful, and Missouri is loyal to-day. So, West Vir- 
ginia was taken out of the Union, and West Virginia is a 
State in the Union to-day. We have taken back from the 
20 



306 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

rebels, of that which they suddenly usurped from us, at least 
one half of all they had." 

The activity of our armies and the accumulating news of 
success kept pace with the course of politics, and at once 
lightened the labors of one side and confused those of the 
other. If the first portion of ISOi was full of gloomy and 
various disasters, the summer and fall more than overbal- 
anced its sorrows in the number and magnificence of achieve- 
ments. Chief among the movements and engagements which 
resulted either to the positive grief, or useless waste of blood 
and treasure of the Union cause, were the Florida expedi- 
tion and the battle of Olustee ; Forrest's Kentucky raid, 
with the affairs at Paducah and the massacre at Fort Pillow ; 
the rebel capture of Plymouth and Washington, in North 
Carolina ; the Red River expedition ; Early's invasion of 
Maryland, knocking at the very gates of Baltimore and 
Washington ; the rebel raid into Pennsylvania and burning 
of Chambersburg ; and the discomfitures of Sigel and Hunter. 

On the other hand, our list of successes embraced a series 
of brilliant, glorious, ably planned and ably conducted victo- 
ries. In the early portion of the year the lamented Mulli- 
gan's battle, driving the rebels from Morcfield, after six hours 
hard fighting, was almost the only positive gleam of light 
amid the gloom indicated. Among the prominent Union 
achievements were General A. J. Smith's handsome capture 
of Fort de Russey ; the surrender of Forts Morgan and 
Gaines, with all their contents, after Farragut's glorious 
sea-fight in Mobile Bay ; Sheridan's brilliant campaign in 
the Shenandoah Valley, and the victories of Winchester, 
Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek ; the matchless campaign of 
Sherman against Atlanta, illustrated by a brilliant chain of 
battle-fields at every point on the long route, by the terrible 
punishment inflicted on the enemy at Peachtree Creek and 
Atlanta ; and, at last, by the triumphant entrance of that 
General into the streets of the long-sought city. These 



OF A XL HE W JOHNS OX. 307 

were soon to be followed — after the election, and as though 
in ratification of the policy then sustained — by the defeat of 
Price in Missouri ; Schofield's skillful battle at Franklin ; 
Thomas's glorious victory at Nashville ; last, and the grand- 
est of all, by the campaign of the " conqueror of Atlanta" 
through the broad State of Georgia, culminating in the 
assault of McAllister, and the ever-memorable siege and fall 
of Savannah. 

Richmond was still in the scale : but the greatest conli- 
dence was every where felt and expressed in General Grant. 
His operations were confidently believed to be, as they were, 
part of the great plan to the completion of which the Union 
armies elsewhere occupied were contributing. The object 
for Avhich General Grant's army was around Richmond and 
Petersburg was not achieved ; but the battles fought to ob- 
tain the position then occupied were great achievements, 
and some of them, at least, canuot be omitted from the glo- 
ries of the year. The battles of the Wilderness, 5th and 6th 
of May, resulting in the falling back of Lee, and the occupa- 
tion of Spottsylvania Court-House, twenty miles south of the 
battle-field, on the 8th ; the terrible battles which followed 
all through May and June, showed the indomitable charac- 
ter of our troops in steadily holding and the tenacity of 
General Grant in improving their position. 

But as was justly remarked * the retrospect is not perfect 
until the essential differences between our victories and 
those of the enemy's is observed. The rebel successes were 
only so many neck-or-nothing diversions, without positive re- 
sults. Our successes were permanent, and but the means by 
which to make assurance of the great end " doubly sure." 
Forrest raided, but Kentucky, Fort Pillow and the rest were 
ours. Plymouth and little Washington were ours. The 
rebels beat us at Monocacy, but Maryland was ours. They 
burnt Chambersburg, but Pennsylvania was ours. They 

* By the Army and Navy Journal, an interesting, useful and able periodical. 



30S LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

"were all round Washington," but the people there only 
laughed at the "scare" they had, as their fathers used to 
laugh at the fright caused by the British in 1814 — but then 
it. was of a more serious description. A year previous 
the Army of the Potomac was overpowered at Culpepper ; 
then it was hugging Richmond and Petersburg. What we 
won we held. Forts De Russey, Morgan and Gaines, Mo- 
bile Bay, Missouri and Tennessee, the Shenandoah Valley, 
from Harper's Ferry to Strasburg, were won by us and were 
ours. 

Besides the territory regained by us, the loss to the rebels 
by the waste and desolation of war was immense. They 
had largely lost in all the material of war, in mills, factories, 
saltworks and arsenals. In Sheridan's brief and brilliant 
campaign the rebels lost over one hundred guns ; in Thomas's 
Nashville campaign, forty-nine.* 

From the Confederacy also the loyal States received every 
encouragement to renewed efforts to sustain the Government 
and its Generals. The report of the rebel Secretary of War 
plainly indicated the failing strength of its resources ; the 
proposition to arm the slaves, holding out future freedom as 
a reward for faithful service, admitted that the negro had a 
higher destiny than slavery, and created angry discussion in 
the South. Davis's speeches at Atlanta, Macon, Montgom- 
ery, on a recruiting tour, evidently a forlorn hope, sounded 
a continuous and distracted wail. It was the death-chant 
of rebellious ambition in the South and of "Peace" sedition 
in the North. Every thing conspired to wisely guide the 
hearts and heads of the people. 

In the meantime, while the canvass was progressing, Gov- 
ernor Johnson was arduously engaged in the work of re- 
organizing the State of Tennessee and otherwise raising his 
voice in behalf of the cause of which he was now a chosen 

* Following up this, Sherman captured one hundred and eighty- two guns at 
Savannah, 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 309 

national representative. He was in receipt of so many letters 
daily on national topics, that he found it physically impossi- 
ble to give personal attention to them. A reply to a rev- 
crenel correspondent by his Secretary pro tern, says : 

" The Governor feels, in the moral, political and social 
wreck produced by the rebellion, that it is truly grateful to 
the patriotic heart to find so distinguished a clergyman, 
when, so many South have fallen, standing like a beacon 
light in the wide waste of desolation around him, firm to the 
laws of God and man, and devoting his whole heart and soul 
to uphold the legitimate authority of both. 

" The influence of the churches, and especially of their 
great lights, in this hour of the country's severest trial, is 
not lightly to be appreciated. If guided by pure and patri- 
otic hearts, their power for good is beyond all computation ; 
but if tainted by treason and prostituted to wild ambition, 
their power for evil is no less extensive. Upheld by the 
churches, and protected by a kind Providence, he feels the 
righteous cause of the Government will soon triumph ; or- 
ganized treason must be broken down ; traitors justly pun- 
ished and impoverished ; and free government, without 
slavery and its disturbing elements, re-established and per- 
manent in every State. 

" To the accomplishment of these ends he has dedicated 
his life and all his mental and physical powers ; and as the 
struggle grows fiercer and the carnage becomes more appal- 
ling, he, with all true patriots, will only redouble his energies 
until the end shall be fully accomplished."* 

A letter from the Governor himself, dated Nashville, Au- 
gust 21st, indicates the progress of his labors and the end to 
which thev tended : 

" We are getting along here under the circumstances as well as 
could be expected. We are taking steps gradually to restore the 
State ; re-organiziug the counties and courts as important prelimi- 

* Mr. S. Milligan to Rev. S. H. Cox, D. D., LL. D. 



310 L IFE AND P UBLIO SEE VICES 

nary steps to calling a convention, and holding elections by the peo- 
ple for all the offices of the State. If our armies are successful at 
Richmond and Atlanta (as I trust in God they will be), we can give 
a vote in November for President and Vice-President. Submission 
to the Constitution and obedience to the laws made in pursuance 
thereof are the only peace measures that should be offered to any 
portion of the people of the United States. These form the best and 
most substantial compromise, and one that can be adopted by the 
people of the rebellious States, when in their discretion they may 
think proper to do so. It is with them how long this war shall con- 
tinue, or when peace shall be made. The terms of peace have been 
before them, and with them, and could have been made at any time 
they thought proper to adopt them. If the Constitution and laws 
of the United States are now to be disregarded, and separation and 
the acknowledgment of an independent Southern Confederacy agreed 
to, American freedom is gone. A separation of the South from the 
North will only be the entering wedge to other divisions which will 
follow, and become as numerous as the States themselves, resulting 
in interminable civil war. Heaven avert the impending catastrophe, 
and preserve the nation from consequences too disastrous and terrific 
for contemplation.* 

In a speech at Louisville, not very long after, this subject 
of " compromise" was again the topic, when he showed that 
the disturbing element which should have been settled in 
1820 was only patched up in 1850, and that in 1861 the 
Southern leaders would have no compromise, but designedly 
defeated the Crittenden compromise and nullified the Cor- 
win amendment to the Constitution. " All the talk of them 
and their Northern coadjutors, then and since, about compro- 
mise, has been sheer hypocrisy — a mere pretence to delude 
the people." Practical emancipation was the order of the 
day in Tennessee and Kentucky, and after they had passed 
the transition state, black labor would, he believed, be more 
profitable than before. " Slavery is a slow, tardy, inactive, 
inert and wasteful system of labor. Black labor emanci- 
pated in all the Southern States will eventually prove more 
profitable than it ever was while enslaved. These broad 

* To John W. Wright, Logansport, Iud. 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 3 1 1 

acres have been worked long enougli by a few lords and 
great gangs of slaves." 

He reiterates his view of negro freedom : 

" Negroes, when freed, bave got to work — must work ; those who 
won't work will be subject to vagrant laws or an apprentice system, 
till they are educated to the idea that freedom for anybody of color 
simply means liberty to work and to enjoy the productions of his 
labor. Let the negro have a fair chance and an equal start in the 
race of life. The talk about " nigger equality" is all humbug. I 
have seen more of it in the South than I have in the North. If the 
negro, as a free man, can compete with the white, he has a right t© 
compete with him ; if, after a fair test, he can't, he must give way to 
the white. In my opinion, freedom will not make negroes any 
worse, and will result in their advancement. I am for an aristocracy 
of labor, of intelligent, stimulating, virtuous labor ; of talent, of in- 
tellect, of meiit ; for the elevation of each and every man, white and 
black, according to his talent and industry." 

This topic of aristocracy versus democracy was constantly 
forced into the contest by the ungenerous epithets used by 
the opposition press, referring to the early life and occupa- 
tion of Governor Johnson. In a speech at Logausport, Ind., 
in the early part of October, he alluded to the subject thus : 

" I hold in my hand, from which I wish to read an extract or two, 
for the benefit of some old Democrats and young ones, too, a letter 
written by General Jackson himself, in his own hand- writing ; and, 
in handling this relic, my mind goes back to the time of 1832. When 
it was written and published I was a young man, or boy, at work in 
my shop, and heard it read. And this memory of being in my shop 
calls to mind what was said when Mr. Lincoln was first nominated. 
He was called a rail-splitter, and I saw to-day you were making good 
use of the idea. While the butternut party was being split to pieces, 
you said the Union could never be split. When the recent nomina- 
tions were made at Baltimore, the tory papers of the country said : 

" They have a rail-splitter and a buffoon for the head of the ticket, 
and ' upon the tail they have a boorish tailor.' The idea at the bot- 
tom of all this opposition is, that the man who rises up from the 
mass of the people, who advocates the doctrines that man is capable 
of self-government, has virtue and intelligence to govern himself, 
should be repudiated. I have nothing to regret that my early life 



312 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

was spent in the shop. I never boast of it in my canvasses, but when 
it is brought up as a reproach, I have met it in the way that it should 
be met. 

Governor Johnson issued a proclamation ordering an elec- 
tion for President and Vice-President, under certain regula- 
tions and prescribing the following test oatli : 

" I solemnly swear that I will henceforth support the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and defend it against the 
assaults of its enemies ; that I am an active friend of the 
Government of the United States ; that I ardently desire 
the suppression of the rebellion against the Government of 
the United States ; that I sincerely rejoice in the triumph 
of the armies and navies of the United States, and the enemy 
of the so-called Confederate States, and in the defeat and 
overthrow of the armies, navies, and of all armed combina- 
tions in the interests of the so-called Confederate States ; 
that I will cordially oppose all armistices or negotiations 
for peace with rebels in arms until the Constitution of the 
United States and all laws and proclamations made in pur- 
suance thereof shall be established over all the people of 
every State and Territory embraced within the national 
Union, and that I will heartily aid and assist the loyal peo- 
ple in whatever measures may be adopted for the attainment 
of those ends ; and further, that I take tin's oath freely and 
voluntarily and without mental reservation. So help me 
God." 

A most emphatic and lengthy protest was framed against 
this proclamation and oath, and signed by ten persons of as 
many counties in the State. The protest avowed that the 
names of the signers appended to it had been issued as can- 
didates for electors, and that if chosen they would cast the 
electoral vote of Tennessee for McClellan and Pendleton. 
It further stated that the proclamation was issued a few 
days after their electoral ticket had been announced. The 
dreadful experience of the past in Tennessee undoubtedly 



OF ANDRE W JOHNSON. 3 1 3 

warned Governor Johnson that the voice and destinies of 
a brave and loyal people were not to be entrusted to any 
whose unconditional loyalty would not stand any test he 
was willing not only to prescribe but to act up to. The 
protest was presented to President Lincoln on the 15th of 
October, and one of the signers and deputation, Mr. John 
Lellyet, published a certified account of the interview : 

" I called upon the President to-day and presented and read to 
him the above protest. Having concluded, Mr. Lincoln responded : 

" ' May I inquire how long it took you and the New York poli- 
ticians to concoct that paper.' 

u I replied it was ' concocted' in Nashville, without communicating 
with any but Tennesseeans. We communicated with citizens of 
Tennessee outside of Nashville, but not with New York politicians. 

" ' I will answer,' said Mr. Lincoln, emphatically, ' that I expect to 
let the friends of George B. McClellan manage their side of this con- 
test in their own way ; and I will manage my side of it in my way.' 

" ' May we ask an answer in writing,' I suggested. 

" ' Not now. Lay those papers down here. I will give no other 
answer now. I may or may not write something about this here- 
after. I understand this. I know you intend to make a point of 
this. But go ahead. You have my answer.' 

" ' Your answer, then, is that you expect to let the friends of Gen- 
eral McClellan manage their side of this contest in their own way 
and you will manage your side of it in your way.' 

"'Yes.' 

" I then thanked the President for Iris courtesy in giving us a hear- 
ing at all, and took my leave." 

In a few days the President found leisure to reply in 
writing, as follows : 

" Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., ) 

October 22, 1884. ) 

" Gentlemen, — On the 15th day of this month, as I remember, a 
printed paper, manuscript, with a few manuscript interlineations, 
called a protest, with your names appended thereto, and accompa- 
nied by another printed paper purporting to be a proclamation by 
Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of Tennessee, and also a manu- 

14 



314 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

script paper purporting to be extracts from the Code of Tennessee, 
were laid before me. 

" The protest, proclamation and extracts are respectively as fol- 
lows: 

[The protest, the proclamation of Governor Johnson of 
September 30, a list of the counties in East, Middle and 
West Tennessee, and extracts from the Code, are hero 
recited.] 

" At the time these papers were presented, as before stated, I had 
never seen either of them, nor heard of the subject to which they 
relate, except in a general way one day previously. 

" Up to the present moment, nothing whatever upon the subject 
has passed between Governor Johnson, or any one else, connected 
with the proclamation, and myself. 

" Since receiving the papers, as I stated, I have given the subject 
such brief consideration as I have been able to do, in the midst of so 
many pressing public duties. 

" My conclusion is, that I have nothing to do with the matter, 
either to sustain the plan as the Convention and Governor Johnson 
have initiated it, or to revoke or modify it as you demand. 

" By the Constitution and laws, the President is charged with no 
duty in the Presidential elections in any State, nor do I in this case 
perceive any military reason for his interference in the matter. 

"The movement set on foot by the Convention and Governor 
Johnson does not, as seems to be assumed by you, emanate from the 
National Executive. 

" In no proper sense can it be considered other than an indepen- 
dent movement of, at least, a portion of the loyal people of Tennessee. 

" I do not perceive in the plan any menace, or violence, or coer- 
cion toward any one. 

" Governor Johnson, like any other loyal citizen of Tennessee, has 
the right to favor any political plan he chooses; and as Military 
Governor, it is his duty to keep the peace among and for the loyal 
people of the State. 

" I cannot discern that by this plan he purposes any more. But 
you object to the plan. 

" Leaving it alone will be your perfect security against it. It is 
not proposed to force you into it. 

" Do as you please, on your own account, peaceably and loyally, 
and Governor Johnson will not molest you, but will protect you 
against violence as far as in his power. 

" I presume that the conducting of a Presidential election in Ten- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 315 

nessee, in strict accordance with the old Code of the State, is not 
now a possibility. 

" It is scarcely necessary to add, that if any election shall be held 
and any votes shall be cast in the State of Tennessee for President 
and Vice-President of the United States, it will not belong to the 
military agents, nor yet to the Executive Department, but exclusively 
to another department of the Government to determine whether they 
are entitled to be counted in conformity with the Constitution and 
laws of the United States. 

" Except it be to give protection against violence, I decline to in- 
terfere in any way with any Presidential election. 

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN." 

Upon the receipt of this the signers* withdrew their 
names as McClellan Electors for Tennessee. 

This attempt to waylay him in his efforts at re-organizing 
the State on an incorruptibly loyal basis gave him but re- 
newed vigor, and at the torch-light procession in Nashville, 
in the next month, Governor Johnson said "it was evident 
a mighty revolution was abroad, and that it was breaking 
up and casting down the hoary abomination which had for 
so many years held our great State, and its citizens, both 
white and black, in cruel and galling thralldom. To-night 
every breeze rings with the glad cry of Freedom to all man- 
kind, without respect to race or complexion. Proclamations 
have been made from many quarters during the progress of 
this great social revolution. And to-night, in the presence 
of this vast throng of laborers, whoso strong arms had con- 
tributed so much to the wealth of this State, through many 
years of unpaid toil, lie stood upon the steps of her capitol 
and proclaimed freedom to all men hi Tennessee! The 
task-master's fetters and the scourge of the overseer lie 
broken beneath the feet of the ransomed slaves forever. 

" I have often said to myself, as I looked on this entli railed 
race, ' Is there no Moses who will arise and lead these peo- 

*Wm. B. Campbell, Tho's. A. R. Nelson, Jas. T. P. Carter, John Williams, 
A. Blizzard, Henry Cooper, Bailie Peyton, John Lellyet, Emerson Etheridge and 
John D. Perry man. 



3 1 6 LIFE AND P UBL1 C SEE VICES 

pie to freedom ?' [A voice, ' You shall be our Moses, Gov- 
ernor.'] ■ Yes, if no other deliverer will come to you, I will 
be your Moses, and help to secure and perpetuate your 
freedom." 

On the 8th of November Abraham Lincoln was re-elected 
President and Andrew Johnson elected Vice-President of 
the United States, to the great joy of the loyal people. 

It was unmistakably a people's triumph, and it was not 
to be wondered at that in his inaugural address, delivered 
in the Capitol on the 4th of March, 18C5, Vice-President 
Johnson — who ever felt proud of the class from which he 
sprung, and which had befriended him — should take occa- 
sion to declare himself in the hour of his triumph a child of 
the masses, and apply with defiant pride to himself that 
phrase which aristocracies only use to the people in con- 
tempt. 

" INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

*' Senators, — I am here to-day as the chosen Vice-President of the 
United States, and as such, by constitutional provision I am made 
the presiding officer of this body. I therefore present myself here in 
obedience to the high behests of the American people to discharge a 
constitutional duty, and not presumptuously to thrust myself in a 
position so exalted. May I at this moment — it may not be irrelevant 
to the occasion — advert to the workings of our institutions under the 
Constitution which our fathers framed and Washington approved, as 
exhibited by the position in which I stand before the American Sen- 
ate, in the sight of the Ameiican people ? Deem me not vain or 
arrogant ; yet I should be less than man if under such circumstances 
I were not proud of being an American citizen, for to-day one who 
claims no high descent, one who comes from the ranks of the people, 
stands, by the choice of a free constituency, in the second place of 
this Government. There may be those to whom such things are not 
pleasing, but those who have labored for the consummation of a free 
Government will appreciate and cherish institutions which exclude 
none, however obscure his origin, from places of trust and distinc- 
tion. The people, in short, are the source of all power. You, Sena- 
tors, you who constitute the bench of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, are but the creatures of the American people ; your 
exaltation is from them ; the power of this Government consists in 



OF ANDREW JOUXSOX. 317 

its nearness and approximation to the great mass of the people. 
You, Mr. Secretary Seward, Mr. Secretary Stanton, the Secretary of 
the Navy, and the others who are your associates — you know that 
you have my respect and my confidence — derive not your greatness 
and your power alone from President Lincoln. Humble a3 I am, 
plebeian as I may be deemed, permit me in the presence of this bril- 
liant assemblage to enunciate the truth that Courts and Cabinets, the 
the President and his advisers, derive their power and their great- 
ness from the people. A President could not exist here forty-eight 
hours if he were as far removed from the people as the autocrat of 
Russia is separated from his subjects. Here the popular heart sus- 
tains President and Cabinet officers ; the popular will gives them all 
their strength. Such an assertion of the great principles of this 
Government may be considered out of place, and I will not consume 
the time of these intelligent and enlightened people much longer ; 
but I could not be insensible to these great truths when I, a plebeian, 
elected by the people the Vice-President of the United States, am 
here to enter upon the discharge of my duties. For those duties I 
claim not the aptitude of my respected predecessor. Although I 
have occupied a seat in both the House of Representatives and the 
Senate, I am not learned in parliamentary law, and I shall be depend- 
ent on the courtesy of those Senators who have become familiar 
with the rules which are requisite for the good order of the body and 
the dispatch of its business. I have only studied how I may best 
advance the interests of my State and of my country, and not the 
technical rules of order; and if I err I shall appeal to this dignified 
body of representatives of States for kindness and indulgence. 

" Before I conclude this brief inaugural address in the presence of 
this audience — and I, though a plebeian boy, am authorized by the 
principles of the Government under which I live to feel proudly con- 
scious that I am a man, and grave dignitaries are but men — before 
the Supreme Court, the representatives of foreign governments, Sen- 
ators and the people, desire to proclaim that Tennessee, whose rep- 
resentative I have been, is free. She has bent the tyrant's rod, she 
has broken the yoke of slavery, and to-day she stands redeemed. 
She waited not for the exercise of power by Congress ; it was her 
own act, and she is now as loyal, Mr. Attorney-General, as is the 
State from which you came. It is the doctrine of the Federal Con- 
stitution that no State can go out of this Union ; and moreover Con- 
gress cannot reject a State from this Union. Thank God, Tennessee 
has never been out of the Union ! It is true the operations of her 
government were for a time interrupted; there was an interregnum; 
but she is still in the Union, and I am her representative. This day 



318 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

she elects licr Governor and her Legislature, which will be ponvened 
on the first Monday of April, and again her Senators and Represen- 
tatives will soon mingle with those of her sister States : and who 
shall gainsay it, for the Constitution requires that to every State shall 
be guaranteed a Republican form of government. 

" I am now prepared to take the oath of office and renew my alle- 
giance to the Constitution of the United States." 

This speech was made the subject of much severe censure 
and animadversion. Of course those journals that had ridi- 
culed his early life and struggles, and based invidious com- 
parisons on the facts, were loudest in denouncing the want 
of dignity that admitted the "Vice-President's rise from the 
ranks of toil. But it will be remembered by readers of 
these pages that he said no more as Vice President than he 
had said as Senator in the Capitol, in his reply to the pro- 
scriptive principles of C. C. Clay and the mud-sill doctrine 
of Hammond, and other occasions. In one of his arguments 
for the Homestead Bill, drawing a distinction between mere 
poor men and idle vagabonds, he denied that poverty was 
a crime. The bill was intended to aid such, and in this 
connection he said : " If being poor was a crime, and I was 
before you as my judge upon trial, and the charge was read 
to me, and I was asked to put in my plea, I should have to 
plead that I was guilty ; that I was a great criminal ; that 
I had been born a criminal ; and that I had lived a criminal 
a large portion of my life. Yes, I have wrestled with pov- 
ertv. that gaunt and hasrgard monster. I have met it in the 
day and night. I have felt his withering approach and his 
blighting influence ; but did I feel myself a criminal? No ; 
I felt that I was chastened, and that I was an honest man, 
and that I would rescue myself from the grasp of the mon- 
ster." He did rescue himself from the monster, only to find 
a more relentless one in the apologists of treason. The 
manner of his delivery was subjected to a not less censur- 
able ordeal than the matter of which his inaugural was com- 
posed. The latter, however, may have been premeditated, 



OF AND BE W JOUXSON. 3 1 9 

and doubtless was ; the former has received an explanation 
in the developments since made of an attempt to poison both 
the President and tiie Vice-President at the period of the 
inauguration. 

The thrilling intelligence of the evacuation of Petersburg, 
and the entrance of the national army under General Weit- 
zel into Richmond on the morning of the third of April, was 
received with indescribable joy. "Not the fall of Rich- 
mond, nor Wilmington, nor Charleston, nor Savannah, nor 
Mobile, nor of all combined can effect the issue of the pres- 
ent contest." So said Jefferson Davis in a message to his 
Congress the year previous ; but one of the Richmond jour- 
nals commenting on this boastful declaration in a spirit of 
novelty, because of common sense, said : " the evacuation 
of Richmond would be the loss of all respect and author- 
ity toward the Confederate government, the disintegra- 
tion of the army, and the abandonment of the scheme of an 
independent Southern Confederacy." This was the view 
generally held in the loyal States, and the fall of the rebel 
capital was regarded as the virtual fall of the Rebellion. 
Hence the enthusiasm which possessed the whole people on 
the intelligence was utterly beyond description. The feel- 
ing of the loyal people was for peace, a peace based on vic- 
tory and the unmistakable supremacy of the Union arms ; 
a peace that should command respect and give confidence to 
the country. In the fall of Richmond they beheld the prom- 
ise of such a peace, and manifestations of self-reliant joy 
were everywhere abundant. 

On the evening of the day on which Richmond was cap- 
tured great rejoicings were held in Washington, and among 
other distinguished men called on to dial the popular feeling 
was the Vice-President. He addressed the excited and vast 
assemblage in the following speech : 

" As I have been introduced I will make one or two remarks, for 
I feel that no one would be justified in attempting to make an ad- 



320 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

dress on such an occasion, when the excitement is justly at so great 
a height. 

" We are now, my friends, winding up a rebellion — a great effort 
that has been made by bad men to overthrow the Government of the 
United States— a Government founded upon free principles, and ce- 
mented by the best blood of the Revolution. You must indulge me 
in making one single remark in connection with myself. At the 
time that the traitors in the Senate of the United States plotted 
against the Government and entered into a conspiracy more foul, 
more execrable, and more odious than that of Cataline against the 
Romans, I happened to be a member of that body, and, as to loy- 
alty, stood solitary and alone among the Senators from the Southern 
States. 

" I was then and there called upon to know what I could do with 
such traitors, and I want to repeat my reply here. I said, if we had 
an Andrew Jackson he would hang them as high as Hainan, but as 
he is no more, and sleeps in his grave in his own beloved State, 
where traitors and treason have even insulted his tomb and the very 
earth that covers his remains, humble as I am, when you ask me 
what I would do, my reply is, I would arrest them — I would try 
them— I would convict them, and I would hang them. 

" As humble as I am and have been, I have pursued but one, unde- 
viating course. All that I have — life, limb and property — have been 
put at the disposal of the country in this great struggle. I have 
been in camp, 1 have been in the field, I have been everywhere where 
this great rebellion was ; I have pursued it until I believe I can now 
see its termination. Since the world began, there never has been a 
rebellion of such gigantic proportions, so infamous in character, so 
diabolical in motive, so entirely disregardful of the laws of civilized 
war. It has introduced the most savage mode of warfare ever prac- 
ticed up the earth. 

" I will repeat here a remark, for which I have been in no small 
degree censured. What is it, allow me to ask, that has sustained the 
nation in this great struggle ? The cry has been you know, that our 
Government was not strong enough for a time of rebellion ; that in 
such a time she would have to contend against internal weakness as 
internal foes. We have now given the world evidence that such is 
not the fact; and when the rebellion shall have been crushed out, 
and the nation shall once again have settled down in peace, our 
Government will rest upon a more enduring basis than ever before. 

" But, my friends, in what has the great strength of this Govern- 
ment consisted. Has it been in one-man power ? Has it been in 
some autocrat, or in some one man who held absolute government ? 



OF ANDREW JOHXSOX. 3 2 1 

No ! I thank God I have it in my power to proclaim the great truth, 
that this Government has derived its strength from the American 
people. They have issued the edict ; they have exercised the power 
that has resulted in the overthrow of the rebellion, and there is not 
another government upon the face of the earth that could have with- 
stood the shock. 

" We can now congratulate ourselves that we possess the strongest, 
the freest and the best Government the world ever saw. Thank God 
that we have lived through this trial, and that, looking in your intel- 
ligent faces here to-day, I can announce to you the great fact that 
Petersburg, the outpost to the strong citadel, has been occupied by 
our brave and gallant officers and our untiring, invincible soldiers. 
And not content with that, they have captured the citadel itself — 
the stronghold of traitors. Richmond is ours, and is now occupied 
by the forces of the United States ! Her gates have been entered, 
and the glorious stars and stripes, the emblem of Union, of power, 
and of su2>remacy, now float over the enemy's capitol ! 

"In the language of another, let that old flag rise higher and 
higher, until it meets the sun in his coming, and let the parting day 
linger to play upon its ample folds. It is the flag of your country, it 
is your flag, it is my flag, and it bids defiance to all the nations of 
the earth, and the encroachments of all the powers combined. It is 
not my intention to make any imprudent remarks or allusions, but 
the hour will come when those nations that exhibited toward us 
such insolence and improper interference in the midst of our adver- 
sity, and, as they supposed, of our weakness, will leam that this is a 
Government of the people jjossessing power enough to make itself 
felt and respected. 

" In the midst of our rejoicing, we must not forget to drop a tear 
for those gallant fellows who have shed their blood that their Gov- 
ernment must triumph. We cannot forget them when we view the 
many bloody battle-fields of the war, the new-made graves, our 
maimed friends and relatives, who have left their limbs, as it were, 
on the enemy's soil, and others who have been consigned to their 
long narrow houses, with no winding sheet save their blankets satu- 
rated with their blood. 

" One word more, and I have done. It is this : I am in favor of 
leniency ; but, in my opinion, evil-doers should be punished. Trea- 
son is the highest crime known in the catalogue of crimes, and for 
him that is guilty of it — for him that is willing to lift his irnpious 
hand against the authority of the nation— I would say death is too 
easy a punishment. My notion is that treason must be made odious, 
and traitors must be punished and impoverished, their social power 
21 



322 LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

broken, though they must be made to feel the penalty of their crime. 
You, my friends, have traitors in your very midst, and treason needs 
rebuke and punishment here as well as elsewhere. It is not the men 
in the field who are the greatest traitors. It is the men who have 
encouraged them to imperil their lives, while they themselves have 
remained at home, expending their means and exerting all their 
power to overthrow the Government. Hence I say this : " the halter 
to intelligent, influential traitors." But to the honest bov, to the 
deluded man who has been deceived into the rebel ranks, I would 
extend leniency ; I would say, return to your allegiance, renew your 
support to the Government, and become a good citizen ; but the 
leaders I would hang. I hold, too, that wealthy traitors should be 
made to remunerate those men who have suffered as a consequence 
of their crime — Union men who have lost their property, who have 
been driven from their homes, beggars and wanderers among Strang- 
ers. It is well to talk about these things here to-day, in addressing 
the well-informed persons who compose this audience. You can, to 
a very great extent, aid in moulding public opinion, and in giving it 
a proper direction. Let us commence the work. We have put down 
these traitors in arms, let us put them down in law, in public judg- 
ment, and in the morals of the world." 

In company with President Lincoln, Vice-President John- 
Bon visited Richmond a few days after its fall ; crowning, as 
it were, by their presence the military triumph of those 
democratic sentiments which the popular will had already 
maintained through the ballot-box. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE REBELLION* ENDED— LINCOLN ASSASSINATED— JOHNSON- 
PRESIDENT. 

The End of the Rebellion — Surrender of Lee — Lieut.-Gen. Grant's Terms — 
Lee's Acceptance — Great Rejoicing — Assassination of President Lincoln — 
Ex-Governor Farwell's Precautions to Protect Vice-President Johnson — 
Visit to the Dying President — General Growth of Respect for Lincoln— The 
Cabinet Officially Notify Vice-President Johnson — His Inauguration as Pre- 
sident of the U.S. — Address to the Cabinet — His Future Policy to be Based on 
His Past— Solemnity of the Occasion — Historical Resume of the Action of 
the Constitution Convention in Creating the Office of Vice-President — Plana 
Proposed— Deemed of No Importance— One of the Last Acts of the Conven- 
tion — Wisdom of a Popular Selection of the Vice-President. 

The grand climax of the Rebellion was reached on the 
9th day of April, when General Lee with the Army of 
Northern Virginia, which had been the heroic bulwark of 
treason, surrendered to Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant. 
The insurmountable combinations of General Grant, power- 
fully aided by the activity of Sheridan in the immediate 
locality, and by Sherman and Thomas on the South and 
Southwest, had so completely throttled the rebels that fight- 
ing was rendered hopeless, as any attempt at escape was 
made impossible. Lee was therefore compelled to accept 
the generous terms offered by General Grant. The day, 
Palm Sunday, had a peculiar significance to the Christian 
world in being sacred to the glory of the Prince of Peace ; 
and the terms of the Union General were commensurately 
magnanimous. The terms and acceptance are embraced in 
the following letters : 

"Appomattox Court House, ) 
April 9, 1865. \ 

"General R. E. Lee, Commanding Confederate States Army : 

" In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th 

(8281 



324 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia on the following terms, to wit: 

" Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate ; one 
copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be re- 
tained by such officers as you may designate. 

'• The officers to give their individual paroles not to take arms 
against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, 
and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for 
the men of his command. 

" The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked 
and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. 

'• This will not embrace the side arms of the officers, nor then - pri- 
vate horses or baggage. 

" This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their 
homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they 
observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside. 
" Very respectfully, 

"U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General" 

GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL GRANT. 

" Headquarters, Army op Northern Virginia, ) 

April 9, 1865. \ 

" Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, 

Commanding United States Armies : 
" General, — I have received your letter of this date, containing 
the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed 
by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in 
your letter of the 8th inst., they are accepted. I will proceed to des- 
ignate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. 
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"K. LEE, General 

The loyal States regarded this announcement as the close 
of actual hostilities, and the joy throughout the country was 
earnest, deep-felt and elevated by a spirit of magnanimity 
worthy of a great people. The prompt proclamation of 
" Thanks to Almighty God" and to General Grant and the 
armies under him, issued by the War Department, faintly in- 
dicated popular action. A sublime feeling of fraternity, 
after four years of war, possessed the people. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 325 

In the midst of this universal rejoicing President Lincoln 
was shot by an assassin at a theatre in Washington, during 
the performance, on the night of the 14th of April, and died 
the next morning. Almost at the same moment the Pre- 
sident received his death wound, the house of Secretary 
Seward was intruded into, the way into his chamber forced, 
and a desperate attempt made to assassinate him by an asso- 
ciate of the murderer of the President. From the evidence 
subsequently elicited, a conspiracy was brought to light 
which contemplated the assassination of Vice-President 
Johnson, the Secretary of War, Lieutenant- General Grant, 
the Chief Justice of the United States and probably other 
members of the Government. The evidence is clear that 
the train was laid by which the Vice-President was to have 
fallen at the same time with the President, an effort to kill 
both by poison at the time of the inauguration having failed. 

On the night of the assassination ex-Governor Farwell of 
Wisconsin, then of the United States Patent Office, was 
among the spectators in the theatre. Simultaneously with 
the consternation at the terrible deed, the remembrance of a 
reward offered in the Southern papers for the killing of the 
President,Vice-President and members of the Cabinet flashed 
to his mind. He immediately left the theatre and proceeded 
as rapidly as possible to the room of the Vice-President, in 
the Kirkwood House, at which hotel the Governor was also 
domiciled. Rapping in vain for entrance, he said in a loud 
voice, " Governor Johnson, if you are in the room I must see 
you." He succeeded in arousing the Vice-President, and 
having gained admission, he locked and bolted the doors, 
rang for the servants, and conveyed the awful news, on 
realizing which Mr. Johnson evinced the greatest emotion. 
The sensibilites of both gentlemen became overpowered in 
the sudden contemplation of the fearful facts, and found ex- 
pression only by a spontaneous warm embrace and a nervous 
grasping of the hands. Immediately on comprehending the 



326 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

immense consequences of the foul deed, the Vice-President 
exhibited great coolness and presence of mind in deliberating 
upon the best means for meeting the emergency. He ex- 
pressed no apprehension for his own safety, but Governor 
Farwell promptly caused a guard to be placed at the door 
until the authorities took proper precautions of that nature. 
Meantime other friends, anxious for his safety, visited Mr. 
Johnson, while Governor Farwell went, at the Vice-Presi- 
dent's request, to the house where the President was lying, 
and to Secretary Seward's, to obtain information of their 
condition. Returning, he, with Major O'Byrne, of the pro- 
vost guard, accompanied the Vice-President to see Mr. Lin- 
coln, who was still insensible. Governor Farwell expressed 
the highest admiration of the remarkable presence of mind 
and depth of thought evinced by the Vice-President, thus 
startled late at night from profound quiet with intelligence 
of such a harrowing and profoundly momentous character. 

The tremendous nature of the crime carried out in the 
assassination of the President, throws into comparative dis- 
ability any attempt to chronicle it, at the same time that 
the demise of so prominent an official compels some respectful 
notice, however brief. 

The murder of President Lincoln was a terrible conclusion 
to the tragedy which had been enacting for four years. 
Undoubtedly the leading and most equally-balanced spirit 
defending the Republic, President Lincoln just lived long 
enough to see his labors measurably successful, their prolon- 
gation guaranteed, and the Republic safe, when his useful 
life was cut short by the hand of an assassin. People who 
had differed from President Lincoln, politicians who had 
abused him, partisans who had denied his wisdom, doubted 
his motives and rebuked his efforts, were now lifted to the 
level of the nation's loss by the blow which struck him down. 
The high tone which had characterized his utterances since 
the surrender of General Lee, the thorough absence of the 



OF ANDREW JOHNS OX. 30 



■>ii 



slightest approach to vindictiveness, bravado or personal ill 
feeling against the rebels, lent an additional lustre to the 
glory of the day. The admirable qualities which in Abra- 
ham Lincoln disclosed themselves the more prominently as 
the climax of the war was reached, and elevated statemanship 
into a paternal aspect of comprehensive forgiveness, now 
stood forth in grand proportions. Their nobility became 
enlarged when contrasted with his unexpected grave. 

At an early hour. on the morning after the assassination, 
the Cabinet officially communicated with Yice-President 
Johnson, informing him of the sudden decease of President 
Lincoln, and requesting that his inauguration should take 
place as soon as possible : 

" Washington City, April 15. 

" Sir, — Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, was shot 
by an assassin last evening at Ford's theatre in this city, and died at 
the hour of twenty-two minutes after 7 o'clock. About the same 
time at which the President was shot an assassin entered the sick- 
chamber of the Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, and stabbed 
him in several places in the throat, neck and face, severely if not 
mortally wounding him. Other members of the Secretary's family 
were dangerously wounded by the assassin while making his escape. 
By the death of President Lincoln, the office of President has de- 
volved under the Constitution upon you. The emergency of the 
Government demands that you should immediately qualify accord- 
ing to the requirements of the Constitution, and enter upon the 
duties of President of the United States. If you will please make 
known your pleasure, such arrangements as you deem proper will be 
made. 

" Your obedient servants, 

Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury. 

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 

Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy. 

William Dennison, Postmaster General. 

J. P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior. 

James Speed, Attorney- General. 
" To Andrew Johnson, Vice-President of the United States." 

Mr. Johnson requested that the ceremony should take 



328 LIFE AXE PUBLIC SERVICES 

place in his rooms at the Kirkwood House, at 10 o'clock in 
the morning. Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, was accordingly noti- 
fied of the fact. At the above-named hour, Chief Justice 
Chase, Secretary McCulloch, Attorney General Speed, F. P. 
Blair, Sr., Hon. Montgomery Blair, Senators Foot of Ver- 
mont, Yates of Illinois, Ramsay of Minnesota, Stewart of 
Nevada, Hale of New Hampshire, and General Farns worth 
of "Illinois, assembled at the Vice-President's hotel, when 
the following oath was administered by the Chief Justice : 

" I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of 
President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, 
preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

After receiving the oath and having been declared Presi- 
dent of the United States, Mr. Johnson remarked : 

" Gentlemen', — I must be permitted to say that I have 
been almost overwhelmed by the announcement of the sad 
event which has so recently occurred.. I feel incompetent 
to perform duties so important and responsible as those 
which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me. As to 
an indication of any policy which may be pursued by me in 
the administration of the Government, I have to say that 
that must be left for development as the administration pro- 
gresses. The message or declaration must be made by the 
acts as they transpire. The only assurance I can now give 
of the future is reference to the past. The course which I 
have taken in the past in connection with this rebellion must 
be regarded as a guarantee of the future. My past public 
life, which has been long and laborious, has been founded, 
as I in good conscience believe, upon a great principle of 
right, which lies at the basis of all things. The best ener- 
gies of my life have been spent in endeavoring to establish 
and perpetuate the principles of free government, and I be- 
lieve that the Government in passing through its present 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 329 

perils will settle clown upon principles consonant with pop- 
ular rights, more permanent and enduring than heretofore. 
I must be permitted to say, if I understand the feelings of 
my own heart, I have long labored to ameliorate and elevate 
the condition of the great mass of the American people. 
Toil, and an honest advocacy of the great principles of free 
government, have been my lot. The duties have been mine — 
the consequences are God's. This has been the foundation 
of my political creed. I feel that in the end the Govern- 
ment will triumph, and that these great principles will be 
permanently established. In conclusion, gentlemen, let me 
say that I want your encouragement and countenance. I 
shall ask and rely upon you and others in carrying the Gov- 
ernment through its perils. I feel, in making this request, 
that it will be heartily responded to by you and all other 
patriots and lovers of the rights and interests of a free 
people." 

The solemnity of the occasion precluded more than the 
expression of those kind wishes which honest respect and 
courtesy inspired. All were bowed beneath the calamity 
which elevated the Vice-President to the responsibilities of 
the executive office ; but the solemn and dignified bearing 
of the new President produced a most gratifying impression. 
The first formal meeting of the Cabinet was held on the 
same day at the Treasury Department. 

Mr. Johnson is the third Vice-President who became 
President. As the subject has attracted some attention 
recently it may be a matter of interest to most readers to 
make a brief historical reference to the views which guided 
the founders of the Constitution in creating an office, of the 
importance of which they did not seem to have had an ade- 
quate idea. It is but natural to expect that the Constitution 
should provide for any exigency arising from the death or 
disability of the President ; but neither the importance of 
a Vice-President, nor the mode of his appointment, seem 



330 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

to have impressed the leading members of the Constitu- 
tional Convention. as they doubtless would have done had 
they lived to share the dangers and necessities of our day. 

The first section of Article II. provides that in case of the 
removal of the President from office, or of his death, resig- 
nation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the 
said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President. It 
further declares that Congress can provide for the case of 
removal, death, resignation or inability both of the Presi- 
dent and Vice-President, by appointing an officer to act as 
President until the disability be removed, or a President 
elected. The act of 1792, simplified the matter very much 
by providing for vacancies in the Presidency and Vice-Pre- 
sidency, the President of the Senate, or in default of one, 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives assuming the 
Executive office until an election for President is had. 

In the various plans proposed to the Constitutional Con- 
vention by Edmund Randolph, Charles Pinckney, Alexander 
Hamilton, and William Paterson, there was no provision 
whatever made for a Vice-President. Neither, was such 
an office suggested in the resolutions of the Convention refer- 
red (July 25 and 26, 1787), to the " Committee of Detail" for 
the purpose of reporting a Constitution, nor in the draft of 
a Constitution reported by this committee, August 6. It was 
only towards the very close of the labors which perfected 
that great instrument that such an office was created, and it 
appeared in the amended Constitution as adopted, 17th of 
September, 1787. 

It had been variously proposed to elect a President by 
the Legislature, to have an advisory Council administrate 
the Government, the duties to devolve on the Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court, or on the President of the Senate — 
the last idea chiefly prevailing. Gouverncur Morris and 
Madison objected to it, the former proposing the Chief Jus- 
tice, and the latter suggesting that the Council to the Presi- 






OF ANDREW JOIIXSON. 331 

dent should fill an " occasional vacancy." Hugh William- 
son, of North Carolina, thought that Congress should provide 
for " occasional vacancies." 

David Brearley, of New Jersey, from a compromise com- 
mittee of eleven, reported a Vice-President, who should be 
" ex-official President of the Senate, except when they sit to 
try the impeachment of the President, in which case the 
Chief Justice shall preside, and excepting also when he shall 
exercise the powers and duties of President," etc. Elbridge 
Gerry opposed this clause, and, also, the having any Vice- 
President, arguing that they might as well put the President 
himself at the head of the Legislature." " The close inti- 
macy that must subsist between the President and Vice- 
President makes it absolutely improper." Mr. Gerry lived 
long enough to see — as in the case of Jefferson and Burr — 
that the President and Vice-President are not always on 
what he deemed a too dangerous intimacy Had he lived 
longer he would have seen that the danger he feared might 
arise from the want of a friendly intimacy, as between Jack- 
son and Calhoun, and from the more political intrigues of 
a later date. In reply to Gerry's dread of this " close inti- 
macy," Gouvemeur Morris shrewdly remarked : " The Vice- 
President, then, will be the first heir-apparent that ever 
loved his father." Roger Sherman argued that the Vice- 
President would be without employment if he was not Pre- 
sident of the Senate, and Williamson, who had been on the 
special committee to which was referred the question of 
how to elect the President, said " Such an officer as Vice- 
President is not wanted. He was introduced merely for the 
sake of a valuable mode of election, which required two to 
be chosen at the same time." And such seems to have been 
the true reason for the provision, near the close of the session, 
for such an officer. 

It is needless to discuss the utility of such an officer at 
this day. The office, although comparatively insignificant as 



332 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

to duties, is of very high dignity, and may become of great 
importance at a crisis like the present. Hence the choice 
of a man for it should never be unthinkingly made. His elec- 
tion makes him a national representative in fact, if he were 
not so before in feeling ; and the position is now generally 
regarded as a useful political balance between the sections, 
there being only one instance in which the President and 
Vice-President were both chosen from States in the same 
section — that of Andrew JackTson of Tennessee, and John 
C. Calhoun of South Carolina. 

Moreover, in the event of its incumbent becoming Pre- 
sident, the people feel a confidence in having voted for him 
through their electors. He is the second choice of the 
people, made with the view of a contingency by which he 
may fill the place of the first. 

On the plan which received greatest favor from the Con- 
vention, the President, in such a crisis as that through which 
we have recently passed would be only the choice of the 
Senate, and might not represent any views save those con- 
fined to the interests of his own State which sent him. In 
the thorough representation of the people, according to the 
present system, the republicanism of our institutions is illus- 
trated and vindicated. It shows to the world that even 
the pressing weight of such a national calamity as has 
befallen us does not, in the words of Secretary McCulloch, 
"affect in the slightest degree the permanence of our 
institutions, or the regular administration of our laws ; that 
an event which would have shaken any other country to the 
centre, docs not even stagger for a moment a government 
like our own." 

Lord Brougham (Political Philosophy, vol. III.) writing 
on the establishment of American Independence, " the 
new constitution upon the federal plan, and of the repub- 
lican form," regarded these achievements as perhaps the 
most important events in the history of our species ; and 



OF ANDREW JOHNSOK 333 

used such language as is fully qualified by the events through 
which we are passing, in testifying to the fact that, " con- 
trary to all the predictions of statesmen and the theories of 
speculative inquirers, a great nation, when fully prepared 
for the task, is capable of self-government ; in other 
words, that a purely republican form of government can be 
founded and maintained in a country of vast extent, peopled 
by millions of inhabitants." 



CHAPTER XXI. 

JOHNSON AS PRESIDENT— END OF ARMED REBELLION. 

Cancels a Slave-dealer's Pardon — Conversation with the President — Indi- 
cations of Policy — Distinctions between the Leaders and Masses of the 
South — Treason the Highest Crime — Reply to Deputation of Citizens of 
Illinois — The Crime and its Cause — Treason to be made Odious — A Peo- 
ple's Attachment the Strongest National Defence — Reply to Christian 
Commission — Deputations from Societies, Cities, and States — Opposed to 
Monopoly, but Supports the Aristocracy of Talent, Virtue, and Labor — 
Formal and Informal Interviews with Sir F. Bruce, the British Ambassa- 
dor — Reply to Baron Von Gerolt and the Diplomatic Body — Address of 
Southern Refugees and President's Reply — The Exercise of Clemency — 
The Aristocracy of Treasou — Proclamation of Mourning — .Ten Days' Re- 
trospection — Capture and Death of Booth, the Assassin — Surrender of Joe 
Johnston to General Sherman — President's Arduous Labors — Reduction of 
Army and Navy — Removal of Trade Restrictions — Receptiou of the Swiss 
Delegation — Order for Military Commision to try the Assassins — Proc- 
lamation of. Rewards for Conspirators — Trade Regulations — Orders on the 
Restoration of Virginia — Proclamation on the Close of the Rebellion and 
Foreign Hospitality to Rebel Cruisers — Audience and Reply to Colored Min- 
isters — Interview with Marquis de Montholon, the French Ambassador — 
Capture of Jefferson Davis — Acknowledged Failure of Secession — A. H. 
Stephens a Prisoner — Surrender of Dick Taylor's Forces — The President 
Declines a Present from New York — Grand Review of the Victorious Veter- 
ans — Surrender of Kirby Smith's Forces. 

Thus have wo followed Andrew Johnson through an early- 
career as remarkable as romantic, and a maturity of suc- 
cesses, the outlines of which are as broad as they are rigidly 
defined — from his apprenticeship to his installation into the 
Presidency. My readers have been presented with a narra- 
tive designed to illustrate the times which moulded him, the 
measures he desired to apply to them, the men with whom 
he rose in prominent contrast ; and to render more intelli- 
gently comprehensive the several public services which have 

(334) 



LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 335 

so consecutively won for Andrew Johnson increased respon- 
sibility and confidence. In the concluding chapters will be 
embraced the principal addresses, proclamations and orders 
which have emanated from President Johnson. Already 
familiar with his past, the reader can thus, from the Presi- 
dent's own voice and pen, form some reasonable idea of the 
policy destined to shape the character of the Republic on 
emerging from the fiery furnace of rebellion and devastation 
to the benign influences of peace, industry and reorgan- 
ization. 

Among the first acts of Mr. Johnson, on assuming the duties 
of President, was one which showed what might be expected 
of him in the way of pardons. About seven or eight years 
ago a person was tried in Boston on the charge of slavo- 
dealing. He was convicted and sentenced to twenty years' 
imprisonment. He had served out six or seven years of that 
penalty when there was a strong pressure upon Mr. Lincoln 
to pardon him. Several prominent politicians of Boston 
strenuously urged the use of the pardoning power. They 
presented several extenuating facts, and finally Mr. Lincoln 
consented to sign it. He placed his signature to the docu- 
ment on the day on which he was assassinated, and sent it 
to the Attorney General's office to be attested and executed. 
It arrived there too late to be attended to on that day, and 
before the office was again opened Mr. Lincoln had breathed 
his last. The several Cabinet Ministers, as a matter of form, 
presented the unfinished business in their departments to 
President Johnson, and among this class was this pardon, 
signed, but not executed. It attracted President Johnson's 
attention, and he immediately said, " I must examine into 
this." Upon making inquiries lie had it cancelled, saying 
that no person ever engaged in that business would get a 
pardon from him. 

After having had a long conversation with the President 
on subjects calculated to indicate the policy of his adminis- 



336 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

tration, Governor Stone of Iowa, addressing a meeting of 
citizens of that State in Washington, declared that while 
the President would deal kindly and leniently with the mass 
of the people of the South, and rank and file of their armies, 
regarding them as he did merely as the victims and sufferers 
of the rebellion, he nevertheless would be careful not to 
pursue any policy which would prevent the Government from 
visiting condign punishment on the guilty authors of the 
rebellion. 

The President regarded it as due to the loyal people of 
the country, and to the memory of the thousands of brave 
men who had fallen in the defense of the Union during this 
struggle, and to the claims of justice and freedom throughout 
the world, that treason should still be regarded as the high- 
est crime under our Constitution and flag, and that it should 
be rendered infamous for all time to come. While enter- 
taining these views, he would endeavor to gain the confidence 
of the deceived and betrayed masses of the Southern people, 
regarding them as the proper material by which to recon- 
struct the insurgent States, and restore them to their proper 
relations to the Government. He would neither recognize 
nor hold official communication with those who had occu- 
pied official stations or acknowledged the sovereignty of the 
rebel government. For four years lie had fought the rebel 
government with all the energy of his character. He ex- 
pressed deep sympathy with the betrayed and deluded masses 
of the South, earnestly desiring their return to their allegi- 
ance to the Government and the restoration of their former 
peace and prosperity. 

On the 17th of April the citizens of Illinois in Washing- 
ton, who were drawn together by the recent mournful 
events, thought it not inappropriate before separating to 
wait on the President, to express their confidence in him and 
to pledge to him the strong support of their State. An 
influential deputation, composed of Governor Qglcsby of 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 337 

Illinois, Senator R. Yates, ex-Senator 0. H. Browning, Gen- 
eral J. N. Haynie, General Gamble, General J. T. Farns- 
wortli, Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, Hon. I). S. Phillips, and ac- 
companied by Governor Pickering of Oregon and many 
others, paid their respects at JhcJJr^asury Department. In 
reply to Governor Oglesby's address, President Johnson said : 

Gentlemen, — I have listened with profound emotion to the kind 
words you have addressed to me. The visit of this large delegation 
to speak to me, through you, sir, these words of encouragement, I 
had not anticipated, in the midst of the saddening circumstances 
which surround us; and the immense responsibility thrown upon 
me, an expression of the confidence of individuals, and still more of 
an influential body like that before me, representing a great Com- 
monwealth, cheers and strengthens my heavily burdened mind. I 
am at a loss for words to respond. In an hour like this of deepest 
sorrow, were it possible to embody in words the feelings of my bosom, 
I could not command my lips to utter them. Perhaps the best reply 
I could make, and the one most readily appropriate to your kind 
assurances of confidence, would be to receive them in silence. The 
throbbings of my heart since the sad catastrophe Avhich has appaled 
us, cannot be reduced to words ; and oppressed as I am with the 
new and great responsibility which has devolved upon and saddened 
me with grief, I can with difficulty respond to you at all. But I 
cannot permit such expressions of the confidence reposed in me by 
the peojfle to pass without acknowledgment. To an individual like 
myself, who has never claimed much, but who has, it is true, received 
from a generous people many marks of trust and honor, for a long 
time, an occasion like this, and a manifestation of public feeling so 
well-timed, are peculiarly acceptable. Sprung from the people my- 
self, eveiy pulsation of the popular heart finds an immediate answer 
in my own. By many men in public life such occasions are often 
considered merely formal. To me they are real. Your words of 
countenance and encouragement sink deep in my heart ; and were I 
even a coward I could not but gather from them strength to cany 
out my convictions of the right. Thu3 feeling, I shall enter upon 
the discharge of my great duty firmly, steadfastly, if not with the 
signal ability exhibited by my jjredecessor, which is still fresh in our 
sorrowing minds. Need I repeat that no heart feels more sensibly 
than mine this great affliction. In what I say on this occasion, I 
shall indulge in no petty spirit of anger, no feeling of revenge. But 
we have beheld a notable event in the history of mankind. In the 
22 



338 LIFE AN~D PUBLIC SERVICES 

midst of the American people, where every citizen is taught to obey 
law and observe the rales of Christian conduct, our Chief Magistrate, 
the beloved of all hearts, has been assassinated ; and when we traco 
this crime to its cause, when we remember the source whence the 
assassin drew his inspiration, and then look at the result, we stand 
yet more astounded at this most barbarous, most diabolical assassi- 
nation. Such a crime as the murder of a great and good man, hon- 
ored and revered, the beloved and the hope of the people, springs 
not alone from a solitary individual of ever so desperate wickedness. 
We can trace its cause through successive steps, without my enumer- 
ating them here, back to that source which is the spring of all our 
woes. No one can say that if the perpetrator of this fiendish deed 
be arrested, he should not undergo the extremest penalty the law 
knows for crime ; nope will say that mercy should interpose. But 
is he alone guilty ? 'Here, gentlemen, you perhaps expect me to pre- 
sent some indication of my future policy. One thing I will say. 
Every era teaches its lesson. The times we live in are not without 
instruction. The American people must be taught — if they do not 
already feel — that treason is a crime and must be punished ; that the 
Government will not always bear with its enemies , that it is strong 
not only to protect, but to punish. / When we turn to the criminal 
code and examine the catalogue of crimes, we there find arson laid 
I down as a crime with its appropriate penalty ; we find there theft 
and robbery and murder, given as crimes ; and there, too, we find 
the last and highest of crimes — treason. With other and inferior 
offenses our people are familiar ; but in our peaceful history treason 
has been almost unknown. The people must understand that it is 
the blackest of crimes, and will be surely punished. I make this 
allusion, not to excite the already exasperated feelings of the public, 
but to point out the principles of public justice which should guide 
our action at this particular juncture, and which accord with sound 
public morals. Let it be engraven on every heart that treason is a 
crime, and traitors shall sutler its penalty. While we are appaled, 
overwhelmed at the fall of one man in our midst by the hand of a 
traitor, shall we allow men — I care not by what weapons — to attempt 
the life of the State with impunity ? While we strain our minds to 
comprehend the enormity of this assassination, shall we allow the 
nation to be assassinated ? 

" I speak in no spirit of unkindness. I leave the events of the fu- 
ture to be disposed of as they arise, regarding myself as the humble 
instrument of the American people. In this, as in all things, justice 
and judgment shall be determined by them. I do not harbor bitter 



OF ANDREW JOIIXSOK 339 

or revengeful feelings toward any. In general terms, I would say- 
that public morals and public opinion should be established upon the 
sure and inflexible principles of justice./ "When the question of exer- 
cising mercy comes before me, it will be considered calmly, judicially, 
remembering that I am the Executive of the nation. I know that 
men love to have their names spoken of in connection with acts of 
mercy, and how easy it is to yield to this impulse. But we must not 
forget that what may be mercy to the individual, is cruelty to the 
State. In the exercise of mercy, there should be no doubt left that 
the high prerogative is not used to relieve a few at the expense of 
the many. Be assured I shall never forget that I am not to consult 
my own feelings alone, but to give an account to the whole people. 
In regard to my future course I will now make no professions, no 
pledges. I have been connected somewhat actively with public 
affairs, and to the history of my past public acts, which is familiar 
to you, I refer for those principles which have governed me hereto- 
fore, and will guide me hereafter. In general I will say I have long 
labored for the amelioration and elevation of the great mass of man- 
kind. My opinions as to the nature of popular government have long 
been cherished, and, constituted as I am, it is now too late iu life for 
me to change them. I believe that government was made for man, 
not man for government. This struggle of the people against the 
most gigantic rebellion the world ever saw, has demonstrated that 
the attachment of the people to their Government is the strongest 
national defense human wisdom can devise. So long as man feels 
that the interests of the Government are his interests, so long as the 
public heart turns in the right direction, and the people understand 
and appreciate the theory of our Government, and love liberty, our 
Constitution will be transmitted unimpaired. If the time ever comes 
when the people shall fail, the Government will fail, and we shall 
cease to be one of the nations of the earth. After having preserved 
our form of free government, and shown its power to maintain its 
existence through the vicissitudes of nearly a century, it may be that 
it was necessary for us to pass through this last ordeal of intestine 
strife to prove that this Government will not perish from internal 
weakness, but will stand to defend itself against all foes, and punish 
treason. In the dealings of an inscrutable Providence, and by the 
operation of the Constitution, I have been thrown unexpectedly into 
this position. My past life, especially my course during the present 
unholy rebellion, is before you. I have no principles to retract. I 
defy any one to point to any of my public acts at variance with the 
fixed principles which have guided me through life. I have no pro- 
fessions to offer. Professions and promises would be worth nothing 



340 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

at this time. No one can foresee the circumstances that will hereafter 
arise. Had any man gifted with prescience, four years ago, uttered 
and written down in advance the events of this period, the stdry 
would have seemed more marvelous than any thing in the ' Arabian 
Nights.' I shall not attempt to anticipate the future. As events 
occur, and it becomes necessary for me to act, I shall dispose of each 
as it arises, deferring any declaration or message until it can be writ- 
ten paragraph by paragraph in the light of events as they transpire." 

During the delivery of these significant remarks, the 
President was frequently interrupted by expressions of ap- 
proval. On the same day lie was addressed by a large 
delegation of the Christian Commission, through the Rev. 
Mr. Borden, of Albany, who believed, in the words of the 
Address, that God had sent President Lincoln " as Moses, 
to lead the people, and his successor, as Joshua, to give them 
a land of promise." The President reiterated the views 
expressed to the Illinois delegation, which were received 
with equal warmth and many hearty responses of " Amen." 

Deputations from loyal societies, cities and States 
crowded into Washington, and surrounded the President. 
After his accession to office, a praiseworthy anxiety in- 
spired all loyal men and municipalities to strengthen him in 
this hour of awful trial to the nation. The President's 
policy was also a subject of daily- widening consideration : 
hence the national capital became a common centre for 
all desiring either to offer support, or elicit intelligence. 
Prominent amid the many groups desiring to do botli were 
the Ohio deputation, headed by Governor Brough ; the In- 
diana deputation, supporting Governor 0. P. Morton ; the 
New Jersey delegation, under the lead of Governor Parker ; 
Massachusetts, represented by Governor Andrew, Ex-Gov- 
ernor Clifford, Ex-Lieutenant Governor Brown, John Pier- 
pont, the poet, and numerous others ; two delegations from 
Maine— one under the Ex-Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin, 
the other having Hon. J. II. Rice, Representative in 
Congress as spokesman ; New York, represented by Sen- 



OF ANDREW JOUNSON. 341 

ator Harris, Hon. Preston King, and several Committees, 
including the Union League, John Jay and Jonathan 
Sturges leading the deputation ; the Citizens' Committee, 
with Moses Taylor as Chairman, Samuel Sloan as Secretary, 
and such merchants and millionaires as William B. Astor, 
A. T. Stewart and Moses II. Grinnell on it ; the Chamber 
of Commerce, with Hiram Walbridge as spokesman ; two 
deputations from Pennsylvania, one bearing a letter from 
Governor Curtin, and the other headed by Ex-Secretary-of- 
War Cameron and Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, Representative 
in Congress. Besides these, and such as these, there were 
deputations from the Departments and numbers of Generals 
and Admirals and distinguished officers of both the Army 
and Navy. The latter did not shape their courtesies into 
any oratorical form. The sentiments expressed in the ad- 
dresses presented by Governors, Senators and the numerous 
delegations were naturally of a similar character, and only 
rivaled each other in their loftiness and fervor of expres- 
sion. The point and force of the President's many replies, 
also similar in all leading features to those alluded to above, 
ca'ptivated and strengthened all who had the pleasure of an 
interview and brought hope and strong sense of reli- 
ability to the masses which they reached through the public 
journals. 

Some of these addresses derive additional interest from 
some special point made by the President, or the character 
of the delegates addressed, and indicate the propriety of 
more special notice. Addressing one of the Pennsylvanian 
deputations, he said : 

" It is the work of freemen to put down monopolies. You have 
seen the attempt made by the monopoly, of slavery to put down the 
free Government ; but the making of the attempt, thereby to control 
and destroy the Government, you have seen the Government put 
down the monopoly and destroy the institution. Institutions of any 
kind must be subordinate to the Government, or the Government 
cannot stand. I do not care whether it be North or South. A Gov- 



342 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ernment based upon popular judgment must be paramount to aV 
institutions that spring up under that Government; and if, when 
tliey attempt to control the Government, the Government don't put 
them down, they will put it down. Hence, the main portion of my 
efforts has been devoted to the opposition of them. Hence, I 
have ever opposed aristocracy — opposed it in any shape. But 
there is a kind of suffrage that has always, that always will, com- 
mand my respect and approbation — the aristocracy of talent, the 
aristocracy of virtue, the aristocracy of merit, or an aristocracy rest- 
ing upon worth, the aristocracy of labor, resting upon honest in- 
dustry, developing the industrial resources of the country — this 
commands my respect and admiration, my support in life." 

On the afternoon of the 25th April, the diplom/dique 
corps called upon the President. Sir Frederick Bruce, the 
new Ambassador from Great Britain, with his attaches, ar- 
rived a few moments before the other ministers, presented 
his credentials, and enjoyed an interview of a very cordial 
and pleasant nature. The British Ambassador made the 
following remarks on the occasion : 

" Mr. President, — It is with deep and sincere concern that I have 
to accompany my first official act with expressions of condolence. 
On Saturday last the ceremony that takes place to-day was to have 
been performed, but the gracious intentions of the late lamented 
President were frustrated by events which have plunged this coun- 
try into consternation and affliction, and which will call forth in 
Great Britain feelings of horror as well as profound sympathy for 
the victims. It becomes, therefore, my painful duty, sir, to present 
the letter from my Sovereign, of which I am bearer to you as Pre- 
sident of the United States, and it is with pleasure that I convey the 
assurances of regard and goodwill which her Majesty entertains 
toward you, sir, as President of the United States. I am further 
directed to express her Majesty's friendly disposition toward the 
great nation of which you are the Chief Magistrate, her hearty 
good wishes for its peace, jn-osperity and welfare. Her Majesty has 
nothing more at heart than to cultivate those relations of amity 
and good understanding which have so long and so happily ex- 
isted between the two kindred nations of the United States and 
Great Britain ; and it is in this spirit that I am directed to per- 
form the duties of the important and honorable post confided to 
me. Permit me, sir, to say that it shall be the object of my earnest 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 343 

endeavors to carry out my instructions faithfully in that respect ; and 
express the hope, sir, that you will favorably consider my attempts 
to meet your approbation, and to give effect to the friendly inten- 
tions of the Queen and her Majesty's Government. I have the honor, 
sir, to place in your hands the letter of credence confided to me by 
her Majesty." 

To which the President replied : 

" Sm Frederick A. W. Bruce, — The cordial and friendly senti- 
ments which you have expressed on the part of Her Britannic 
Majesty give me great pleasure. Great Britain and the United 
States, by the extended and varied forms of commerce between 
them, the contiguity of portions of their possessions, and the simi- 
larity of their language and laws, are drawn into contrast and inti- 
mate intercourse at the same time. They are from the same causes 
exposed to frequent occasions of misunderstanding only to be averted 
by mutual forbearance. So eagerly are the people of the two coun- 
tries engaged throughout almost the whole world in the pursuit of 
similar commercial enterprizes, accompanied by natural rivalries and 
jealousies, that at first sight it would almost seem that the two 
Governments must be enemies, or at best, cold and calculating 
friends. So devoted are the two nations throughout all their do- 
main, and even in their most remote territorial and colonial pos- 
sessions to the principles of civil rights and constitutional liberty, 
that, on the other hand, the superficial observer, might erroneously 
count upon a continual concert of action and sympathy, amounting 
to an alliance between them. Each is charged with the development 
of the progress and liberty of a considerable portion of the American 
race. Each, in its sphere, is subject to difficulties and trials not 
participated in by the other. The interests of civilization and of 
humanity require that the two should be friends. I have always 
known and accepted it as a fact honorable to both countries that 
the Queen of England is a sincere and honest well-wisher to the 
United States. I have been equally frank and explicit in the 
opinion that the friendship of the United States towards Great 
Britain is enjoined by all the considerations of interest and of sen- 
timent affecting the character of both. You will, therefore, be ac- 
cepted as a minister friendly and well disposed to the maintenance 
of peace and the honor of both countries. You will find myself 
and all my associates acting in accordance with the same enlightened 
policy and consistent sentiments ; and so I am sure that it will not 
occur in your case that cither yourself or this Government will ever 



344 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

have cause to regret that such an important relationship existed at 
such a crisis." 

A correspondent gives a racy account of the informal con- 
versation which took place on the occasion of the formal 
presentation ; and a report of tho one may fitly accom- 
pany an account of the other : " The new Minister made his 
appearance with all his stars and decorations on, presented 
his credentials, and formally read his speech. Mr. Johnson, 
after welcoming to the Capitol a representative of Great 
Britain, remarked that he was not much used to the diplo- 
matic formalities customary on such occasions, adding, ' that 
two great nations ought to conduct their relations very much 
as two neighbors who sincerely desire peace and good fel- 
lowship between themselves would do, and that the less 
mere formality about it the better.' ' I assure you, Mr. 
President,' interrupted Sir Frederick, pointing to his uniform 
and decorations, ' that I should feel very much more at ease 
without these things than with them.' The remark was so 
consonant to American prejudice against ' fuss and feathers,' 
that the President and Minister became friends at once, and 
sat down for a chat. Sir Frederick asked about Sherman. 
President Johnson explained the position. ' What chance 
is there for Mr. Davis then?' asked Sir Frederick. ' Oh ! a 
small particle still : doubtless his escape across the country/ 
said the President. ' Well,' replied the Minister, in an in- 
quiring tone, ' I should think that Mr. Davis and a few mem- 
bers of his cabinet would probably find it well to start pretty 
soon ?' ' If they know what is for their own interest,' re- 
sponded the President, rather grimly, ' they had better lose 
no time about it. The time has come,' he added, ' when 
traitors must be taught they are criminals. The couutry 
has clearly made up its mind on that point, and it can find 
no more earnest agent of its will than myself.' There was 
then a renewal of the mutual promise to talk over any diffi- 
culties that might arise between Great Britain and the 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 345 

United States like two neighbors sincerely desirous of good 
terms with each other, and so the interview ended." 

The other representatives of the foreign nations arrived 
escorted by Wra. Hunter, Esq., Acting Secretary of State, 
walking arm in arm with Baron Yon Gerolt the Prussian 
Minister, Dean of the Diplomatic body. On this occasion 
the Governments of Russia, France, Austria, Prussia, Spain, 
Denmark, Sweden, the Hanseatic Republic, Belgium, Brazil, 
Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile and Peru were represented. The 
Ministers were mostly attended by their secretaries and at- 
taches, all arrayed in full court dress, and most of the num- 
ber wearing the badge of mourning on the left arm. 

Baron Von Gerolt delivered the following address of 
condolence, sympathy and international respect : 

" Me. Pk^sede^t, — The representatives of foreign nations have 
assembled here to express to your Excellency their feelings at the 
deplorable events of which they have been witness, to say how sin- 
cerely they share the national mourning for the cruel fate of the late 
President, Abraham Lincoln, and how deeply they sympathize with 
the Government and people of the United States in their great afflic- 
tion. With equal sincerity we tender to you, Mr. President, our best 
wishes for the welfare and prosperity of the United States, and for 
your personal health and happiness. May we be allowed also, Mr. 
President, to give utterance on this occasion, to our sincerest hopes 
for an early re-establishment of peace in this great country, and for 
the maintenance of the friendly relations between the Government of 
the United States and the Governments which we represent." 

To which the President replied : 

" Gentlemen of the Diplomatic Body, — I heartily thank you, 
on behalf of the Government and people of the United States, for the 
sympathy which you have so feelingly expressed upon the mournful 
events to which you refer. The good wishes also which you so kindly 
offer for the welfare and prosperity of the United States, and for my 
personal health and happiness, are gratefully received. Your hopes 
for the early restoration of peace in this country are cordially recip- 
rocated by me. You may be assured that I shall leave nothing 
undone towards preserving those relations of friendship which now 
fortunately exist between the United States and all foreign powers.'' 

15* 



346 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

On the 24tli a large number of refugees from the insurrec- 
tionary States called upon President Johnson. The Presi- 
dent was profoundly moved by this demonstration on the 
part of those who, like himself, had personally experienced 
the atrocity of the rebellion, and suffered every thing save 
death, and sometimes worse than death for their loyalty to 
the Constitution and the integrity of the nation. 

The refugees, through Judge Underwood of Virginia, 
addressed the President as follows : 

" Mr. President, — The gentlemen who come with me to pay their 
respects to the Chief Magistrate of the nation are for the most part 
exiles from the South — exiles for their devotion to the Union and 
the Constitution, in defiance of threats and persecution of the slave- 
holding aristocracy. Your recent utterances have stirred our spirits 
like the sound of a trumpet, and encouraged the hope that we may 
ere long in safety visit our desolated farms, and rebuild our houses in 
the sunny South. We have no feelings but those of kindness for the 
common people of our section — even for those who, by physical or 
moral compulsion, or by grora deception, have been arrayed in arms 
against the Government. We would not say, with Joshua of old, 
' Every one who rebels shall be put to death ;' but woe to the wicked 
leaders who, though baffled, are neither humbled nor subdued ; whose 
arrogance and treason are as dangerous to us and to the country as 
ever. We thank you for declaring that these great criminals must be 
punished. The Great Author of nature and providence decrees that 
those who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind. We know that 
we cannot go home in safety while traitors, whose hands are still 
dripping with the warm blood of our martyred brothers, remain 
defiant and unpunished. It is folly to give sugar plums to tigers and 
hyenas. It is more than folly to talk of clemency and mercy to these 
worse than Catalines, for clemency and mercy to them is cruelty and 
murder to the innocent and unborn. If General Jackson had pun- 
ished the treason of Calhoun we should not have witnessed this re- 
bellion. If the guilty leaders of this rebellion shall be properly pun- 
ished our children's children will not be compelled to look upon 
another like it for generations. By the blood of our martyred Pres- 
ident, by the agonies of our starved and mutilated prisoners, by the 
tens of thousands slain in battle, and the desolations of home and 
country, and all the waste of life and treasure for the last four years 
with no feelings of revenge, but in sincerest sorrow, we pray that 



OF ANDREW JOUNSON 347 

your administration may be both a terror to evil-doers and a protec- 
tion to all who pursue the paths of peace. And while we mourn and 
lament our great and good and murdered Chief, too kind and too 
indulgent, we fear, for these stormy times, we thank God for the 
belief that, knowing the character of the leaders of the rebellion as 
you do, you will so deal with them that our whole country will be 
an asylum for the oppressed of eveiy creed and every clime — the 
home of peace, freedom, industry, education and religion— a light 
and an example to the nations' of the whole earth, down a long, bright 
beneficent future." 

The President then made the following reply : 

" It is hardly necessary for me on this occasion to say that my 
sympathies and impulses in connection with this nefarious rebellion 
beat in unison with yours. Those who have passed through this 
bitter ordeal, and who participated in it to a great extent, are more 
competent, as I think, to judge and determine the true policy which 
should be pursued. I have but little to say on this question in re- 
sponse to what has been said. It enunciates and expresses my own 
feelings to the fullest extent ; and in much better language than I 
can at the present moment summon to my aid. The most I can say 
is that, entering upon the duties that have devolved upon me under 
circumstances that are perilous and responsible, and being thrown 
into the position I now occupy unexpectedly, in consequence of the 
sad event, the heinous assassination which has taken place — in view 
of all that is before me and the circumstances that surround me — I 
cannot but feel that your encouragement and kindness are peculiarly 
acceptable and appropriate. I do not think that you, who have been 
familiar with my course — you who are from the South — deem it 
necessary for me to make any professions as to the future on this occa- 
sion, nor to express what my course will be upon questions that may 
arise. If my past life is no indication of what my future will be, my 
professions were both worthless and empty ; and in returning you 
my sincere thanks for this encouragement and sympathy, I can only 
reiterate what I have said before, and, in part, what has just been 
read. As far as clemency and mercy are concerned, and the proper 
exercise of the pardoning power, I think I understand the nature and 
character of the latter. In the exercise of clemency and mercy that 
pardoning power should be exercised with caution. I do not give 
utterance to my opinions on this point in any spirit of revenge or 
unkind feelings. Mercy and clemency have been pretty large ingre- 
dients in my compound, having been the Executive of a State, and 



I 



348 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

thereby placed in a position in which it was necessary to exercise 
clemency and mercy. I have been charged with going too far, being 
too lenient, and have become satisfied that mercy without justice is 
a crime, and that when mercy and clemency are exercised by the Ex- 
ecutive it should always be done in view of justice, and in that man- 
ner alone is projierly exercised that great prerogative. The time has 
come, as you who have had to drink this bitter cup are fully aware, 
when the American people should be made to understand the true 
nature of crime. Of crime generally, our people have a high under- 
standing, as well as of the necessity for its punishment ; but in the 
catalogue of crimes there is one, and that the highest known to the 
law and the Constitution, of which, since the days of Jefferson and 
Aaron Burr, they have become oblivious. That is — -treason. Indeed, 
one who has become distinguished in treason, and in this rebellion, 
said that ' when traitors become numerous enough treason becomes 
respectable, and to become a traitor was to constitute a portion of 
the aristocracy of the country.' God protect the people against such 
an aristocracy. Yes, the time has come when the people should be 
taught to understand the length and breadth, the depth and height, 
of treason. An individual occupying the highest position among us 
was lifted to that position by the free offering of the American peo- 
ple — the highest position on the habitable globe. This man we have 
seen, revered and loved — one who, if he erred at all, erred ever on the 
side of clemency and mercy —that man we have seen treason strike, 
through a fitting instrument, and we have beheld him fall like a 
bright star from its sphere. Now, there is none but would say, if the 
question came up, what should be done with the individual who 
assassinated the Chief Magistrate of the nation ? — he is but a man — 
one man, after all ; but if asked what should be done with the assas- 
sin, what should be the penalty, the forfeit exacted ? I know what 
response dwells in every bosom. It is, that he should pay the forfeit 
with his life. And hence we see there are times when mercy and 
clemency, without justice, become a crime. The one should temper 
the other, and bring about that proper mean. And if we would say 
this when the case was the simple murder of one man by his fellow 
man, what should we say when asked what shall be done with him 
or them or those who have raised impious hands to take away the 
life of a nation composed of thirty millions of people ? "What would 
be the reply to that question ? But while in mercy we remember 
justice, in the language that has been uttered, I say, justice towards 
the leaders, the conscious leaders ; but I also say amnesty, concilia- 
tion, clemency and mercy to the thousands of our countrymen whom 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 349 

you and I know have been deceived or driven into this infernal rebel- 
lion. And so I return to where I started from, and again repeat, 
that it is time our people were taught to know that treason is a 
crime, not a mere political difference, not a mere contest between two 
parties, in which one succeeded and the other has simply failed. 
They must know it is treason ; for if they had succeeded the life of 
the nation would have been reft from it — the Union would have been 
destroyed. Surely the Constitution sufficiently defines treason. It 
consists in levying war against the United States, and in giving their 
enemies aid and comfort. With this definition it requires the exer- 
cise of no great acumen to ascertain who are traitors. It requires no 
great perception to tell us who have levied war against the United 
States ; nor does it require any great stretch of reasoning to ascertain 
who has given aid to the enemies of the United States ; and when 
the Government of the United States does ascertain who are the con- 
scious and intelligent traitors, the penalty and the forfeit should be 
paid. I know how to appreciate the condition of being driven from 
one's home. I can sympathize with him whose all has been taken 
from him — with him who has been denied the place that gave his 
children birth. But let us, withal, in the restoration of true govern- 
ment, proceed temperately and dispassionately, and hope and pray 
that the time will come, as I believe, when all can return and remain 
at our homes, and treason and traitors be driven from our land ; 
when again law and order shall reign, and the banner of our country 
be unfurled over every inch of territory within the area of the United 
States. In conclusion, let me thank you most profoundly for this 
encouragement and manifestation of your regard aud respect, and 
assure you that I can give no greater assurance regarding the settle- 
ment of this question than that I intend to discharge my duty, and 
in that way which shall, in the earliest possible hour, bring back 
peace to our distracted country. And I hope the time is not far dis- 
tant when our people can all return to their homes and firesides, and 
resume their various avocations." 

On the 25th, the President issued a proclamation, desig- 
nating the 25th of May, subsequently changed to the 1st of 
June, as a day of humiliation and mourning and solemn 
service to Almighty God, " in memory of the good man who 
had been removed." 

From the midnight when Governor Farwell aroused Mr. 
Johnson, to the date of this proclamation, the country had 



350 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

undergone, without doubt, the greatest series of excitements 
to which it or any other had ever been subjected. Incidents 
followed each other so rapidly that the mind became almost 
morbidly nervous from over exertion. The dissemination 
of the news of the murder coming in the midst of triumphal 
celebrations every where ; the thousands pouring into 
Washington, and the thousand rumors pouring out of it ; 
the meetings of condolence like a universal wail for the 
dead President ; the meetings of confidence expressing a 
general reliance on the live one ; the obsequies, gathering 
strength of woe from city to city ; the hunt after Jefferson 
Davis and " cabinet ;" the chase after the assassin Booth 
and his accomplices ; the anxiously-looked for bulletins 
touching the futile butchery of Secretary Seward ; the 
raising of the old flag on Fort Sumter ; the capture of Mo- 
bile by General Canby and Commodore Thatcher ; the 
groundless fears that General Sherman had compromised 
his own and the national glory in his armistice with the 
rebel general Joe Johnston ; the announcement from the 
War Department that " the murder was organized in Canada 
and approved in Richmond ;" these and other facts and ru- 
mors combined to create and keep excited an amount of 
popular pride, passion and patriotism, sorrow, hate and 
vengeance, humiliation, horror and hope, that to a very 
great extent interfered with business over the whole country, 
and fixed the eyes of all on the action of the Government. 
Men who lived through those days, especially in Wash- 
ington or New York, underwent mental experiences and 
developments of feeling which can never be forgotten. 
The anxious and tumultuous nature of the public mind re- 
ceived a definite direction by the news that Booth and 
Harrold were tracked, the latter caught and the former shot 
on the morning of April 26 ; and the following announce- 
ment gave a refreshing turn to public sentiment : 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 351 

"War. Department, Washington, D. C, ) 
April 28, 1865—3 p. m. \ 

" Major-General Dix, New York, — A dispatch from General Grant, 
dated at Raleigh, 10 a. m., April 26, just received by this depart- 
ment, states that ' Johnston surrendered the forces in his command, 
embracing all from here to Chattahoochee, to General Sherman, on 
the bads agreed upon between Lee and myself for the Army of 
Northern Virginia.' 

"EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War." 

Johnston's was the last remaining military organization of 
any account on the east side of the Mississippi. 

Throughout the period thus briefly and inadequately indi- 
cated, President Johnson had full necessity for all the re- 
sources of his physical and mental strength. The state of 
affairs demanded all his thoughts ; the deputations and public 
men all his presence. By arduous labor he satisfied both, and 
was not less remarkable for the self-reliant courage displayed 
by his frequent and unattended appearance in public. The 
Secretary of War had ordered a guard of soldiers for the 
protection of the President's temporary residence, but the 
President felt no danger, or if he felt, faced it with his 
usual determination. A friend meeting him soon after his 
inauguration, and while the air was clouded with threats 
and rumors of treasonable plots, said, " Mr. President, is it 
wise for you thus to jeopardise yourself?" He replied, " Yes, 
I have already been shot at twice, you remember, without 
injury. Threatened men live long." 

The President's old doctrine of retrenchment in Govern- 
ment outlay was put into practice as soon as public safety 
warranted. Under direction of the War Department and 
Lieutenant-General Grant, the military reduction amounted 
to something like one million per day. Similar measures 
of reduction, commenced after the capture of Fort Fisher, 
were favorably urged in the Navy Department. With re- 
trenchment in our expenses, the President desired to open 
up all available channels of commerce in the insurrectionary 
States. 



352 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



REMOVAL OF TEADE RESTRICTIONS. 

" Executive Chamber, Washington, ( 
" April 29, 1865. \ 

"Being desirous to relieve all loyal citizens and well-disposed 
persons residing in the insurrectionary States from unnecessary com- 
mercial restrictions, and to encourage them to return to peaceful 
pursuits, it is hereby ordered : 

" First — That all restrictions upon internal, domestic and coast- 
wise commercial intercourse be discontinued in such part of the 
States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missisippi, and so much of Louisiana as 
lies east of the Mississippi River, as shall be embraced within the lines 
of the national military occupation, excepting only such restrictions 
as are imposed by the acts of Congress, and regulations in pursuance 
thereof prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and approved 
by the President, and excepting also from the effect of this order 
the following articles, contraband of war, to wit : Arms, ammunition 
and all articles from which ammunition is manufactured ; gray uni- 
forms and cloth, locomotives, cars, railroad iron and machinery for 
operating railroads ; telegraph wires, insulators and instruments for 
operating telegraph lines. 

" Second — All existing military and naval orders in any manner 
restricting internal, domestic and coastwise commercial intercourse 
and trade with or in the localities above named be and the same are 
hereby revoked, and that no military or naval officer in any man- 
ner interrupt or interfere with the same, or with any boats or other 
vessels engaged therein under proper authority pursuant to fhe 
regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON." 

A delegation of the Swiss residents of Washington, Bal- 
timore, Philadelphia and New York, waited on President 
Johnson on the 1st May. The delegation was attended 
by Colonel Lecompte, of the Swiss army, who accompanied 
General McClellan during the Peninsula campaign, and 
was also with General Grant at the capture of Richmond, 
for the purpose of obtaining for the Swiss Government such 
military information as the two campaigns afforded. The 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 353 

Swiss Consul-General, Mr. Ilitz, expressed the sentiments 
of the delegation in the following address : 

" Mr. President,— Your Excellency, no doubt, will readily ap- 
preciate why it is that the citizens of Switzerland residing in the 
United States were unable to remain passive spectators of the im- 
portant events and tragic occurrences they have witnessed transpire 
during the past month. They now desire me to express to you pub- 
licly the intense feelings of sympathy which have been engendered 
in their hearts. Like all loyal Americans, my countrymen rejoice 
over the recent brilliant successes of your arms — successes which, 
having bee n planned with marked ability, in a few days gave the 
deathstroke to the most formidable and unjustifiable rebellion which 
history bears record of. Our joy, like yours, has been marred by 
horror at the odiousness of a crime unheard of in the annals of re- 
publics. Well can it be said that in the death of the late lamented 
President, Abraham Lincoln, your country was robbed of a dear 
father, and thus added another, and the most precious, to the long 
list of sacrifices which it has been called on to make during the late 
troublous times. But the Swiss, as republicans, are proud to bear 
witness to the fact that the great republic of the United States, 
owing to the wisdom of her institutions and to the energy of her 
people, shows at the present moment to the world her ability to pass 
unscathed through the severest calamities, to overcome the most 
manifold trials, and defy as well the openly planned attacks of 
anarchy, as also the secret conspiracies of assassins. A profound and 
general mourning extends over the land, but devoid of those politi- 
cal convulsions which would infallibly follow such events in many 
other countries. The whole nation is afflicted, but remains un- 
moved and vigilant, the law inflexible, yet scarcely ceased not an 
instant to reign supreme, and the great work which is being per- 
formed continues uninterrupted. May your republic always over- 
come in like manner such other trials as God in His inscrutable 
providence may yet have in store for you. May the noble victim 
whom we all mourn— the greatest of the struggle — also be its last, 
and may his tomb become the seal to the restoration of the Union 
on a more solid basis than ever before. The time is near, and we 
can already hail with joy the national greatness which shall succeed 
all your trials so fruitful in results. The faith in the final triumph 
of right and justice — faith in the right of liberty and republican in- 
stitutions — will every where be strengthened. We cannot terminate 
without asking your Excellency to accept, also, the expression of 

23 



354 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

our entire confidence in your ability so to administer your Govern- 
ment as to fulfill its important mission at home as well as abroad. 
Your past public life, already reaffirmed by the wisdom of your acts 
as Chief Magistrate, is a sure guarantee that the task which so un- 
expectedly devolved upon you has fallen into good hands." 

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT. 

The reply of the President was read by Mr. Hunter, the 
Acting Secretary of State, as follows : 

"Mr. Consul General Hitz,— I thank you for the sympathy 
which you have expressed on behalf of your countrymen, for our 
recent bereavement, and for your congratulations upon the success 
of our arms. We can have no distrust of the heartiness of these 
feelings. Switzerland herself has had her trials, and has been called 
on to endure sacrifices. She has, however, triumphed over all, and 
her heroism, patience and self-denial have had and will continue to 
have the effect of strengthening similar qualities in the people of 
other countries. The good wishes which you offer to me personally, 
and your confidence in my administration, are generous and gratify- 
ing. Trusting that results may justify this kindness, I will add 
that in the United States citizens of the Swiss Confederation are 
always welcome either as guests or as members of the family. My 
own home, Eastern Tennessee, whose inhabitants are distinguished 
by that love of freedom which is so characteristic of the Swiss of 
the Old "World, is proud to be known as the Switzerland of 
America." 

MILITARY COMMISSION FOR THE TRIAL OF THE ASSASSINS. 

" Executive Chamber, Washington City, ) 

May 1, 1865. \ 

" Whereas, the Attorney-General of the United States hath given 
his opinion : 

" ' That the persons implicated in the murder of the late President, 
Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassination of the Hon. "Wil- 
liam II. Seward, Secretary of State, and in an alleged conspiracy to 
assassinate other officers of the Federal Government at Washington 
city, and their aiders and abettors, are subject to the jurisdiction of, 
and legally triable before, a military commission :' 

"It is ordered: 1st, That the Assistant Adjutant-General detail 
nine competent military officers to serve as a commission for the trial 



OF ANDREW JOUXSOK 355 

of said parties, and that the Judge Advocate-General proceed to pre- 
fer charges against said parties for the alleged offenses, and bring 
them to trial before said military commission ; that said trial or trials 
be conducted by the said Judge Advocate-General, and, as recorder 
thereof, in person, aided by such assistant or special judge advocates 
as he may designate, and that said trials be conducted with all dili- 
gence consistent with the ends of justice: the said commission to sit 
without regard to hours. 

" 2d. That Brevet Major-General Hartranft be assigned to duty as 
special Provost-Marshal-General for the purposes of said trial and 
attendance upon said commission and the execution of its mandates. 

" 3d. That the said commission establish such order or rules of 
proceeding as may avoid unnecessary delay and conduce to the ends 
of ju-itice. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON." 
" Ad-tctant-General's Office, ) 
Washington, May 6, 1865. j 

[Official copy.] 

"W. A. Nichols, Assistant Adjutant- General." 

The following proclamation was issued after the unani- 
mous decision of a Cabinet meeting, and in pursuance of the 
decision of the proper legal authority : 

PROCLAMATION : REWARDS FOR THE CONSPIRATORS. 

" Whereas, It appears from evidence in the Bureau of Military 
Justice that the atrocious murder of the late President, Abraham 
Lincoln, and the attempted assassination of the Hon. W. H. Seward, 
Secretary of State, were incited, concerted, and procured by and be- 
tween Jefferson Davis, late of Richmond, Va., and Jacob Thompson, 
Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. Sanders, W. C. Cleary, 
and other rebels and traitors against the Government of the United 
States, harbored in Canada ; now, therefore, to the end that justice 
may be done, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do 
offer and promise for the arrest of said persons, or either of them, 
within the limits of the United States, so that they can be brought 
to trial, the following rewards : One hundred thousand dollars for 
the arrest of Jefferson Davis ; twenty-five thousand dollars for the 
arrest of Clement C. Clay ; twenty-five thousand dollars for the 
arrest of Jacob Thompson, late of Mississippi; twenty-five thousand 
dollars for the arrest of George N. Sanders; twenty-five thousand 



35G LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

dollars for the arrest of Beverly Tucker, and ten thousand dollars for 
the arrest of William C. Cleary, late clerk of Clement C. Clay. 

" The Provost-Marshal-General of the United States is directed to 
cause a description of said persons, with notice cf the above rewards, 
to be published. 

" In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, 
[l. s.] and caused the seal of the United States to be 

affixed. 
" Done at the City of Washington, the second day of May, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty- 
ninth. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON." 
" By the President : 

" W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State." 

The Trade regulations were the subject of grave consid- 
eration. The President's proclamation of the 1st indicated 
his desire to throw open the Southern States to the benefits 
and blessings of unrestricted commerce. The Act of Con- 
gress of July, 1864, however, was a barrier to his purposes. 
The Act could not be overruled by any Presidential action. 
It must wait to be repealed ; but the cumbersome and har- 
assing system instituted by ex-Secretary Fessenden, under 
the Act, might be modified or abrogated in favor of such 
rules as would materially lessen and loosen the fetters on 
trade. To further the President's views the following rules 
and regulations were adopted and promulgated : 

" Treasury Department, May 9, 1865. 

" With a view of carrying out the purposes of the Executive, as 
expressed in his Executive Order, bearing date of April 29, 1865, 
' To relieve all loyal citizens and well-disposed persons residing in 
insurrectionary States from unnecessary commercial restrictions, and 
to encourage them to return to peaceful pursuits, the following regu- 
lations are prescribed, and will hereafter govern commercial inter- 
course between the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisi- 
ana east of the Mississippi river, heretofore declared in insurrection, 
and the loyal States : 

■" First. — All commercial transactions under these regulations shall 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 357 

be conducted under the supervision of officers of customs and others 
acting as officers of customs. 

" Second. — Prohibited Articles. — The following articles are pro- 
hibited, and none such will be allowed to be transported to or within 
any State heretofore declared in insurrection, except on Government 
account, viz : Arms, ammunition, all articles from which ammunition 
is manufactured, gray uniforms and cloth, locomotives, cars, railroad 
iron, and machinery for operating railroads, telegraph wires, insula- 
tors, and instruments for operating telegraph lines. 

" Third. — Amounts op Products Allowed and Places to 
which such may be Transported. — It having been determined 
and agreed upon by the proper officers of the War and Treasury De- 
partments, in accordance with the requirements of section nine of the 
act of July 2, 18S4, that the amount of goods required to supply the 
necessities of the loyal persons residing in the insurrectionary States, 
within the military lines of the United States forces, shall be an 
amount equal to the aggregate of the applications therefor, and that 
the places to which such goods may be taken shall be all places in 
such lines that may be named in the several applications for trans- 
portation thereto, it is therefore directed that clearance shall be 
granted, on application by any loyal citizen, for all goods not pro- 
hibited, in such amounts and to such places which, under the reve- 
nue and collection laws of the United States, have been created ports 
of entry and delivery in coastwise trade, as the applicant may de- 
sire. 

" Fourth. — Clearance. — Before any vessel shall be cleared for any 
port within the insurrectionary States, or from one port to another 
therein, or from any such ports to a port in the loyal States, the mas- 
ter of every such vessel shall present to the proper officer of customs 
a manifest of her cargo, which manifest shall set forth the character 
of the merchandise composing said cargo, and, if showing no pro- 
hibited articles, shall be certified by such officer of customs. 

"Fifth. — Arrtval and DiscnARGE op Cargo in an Insurrec- 
tionary State. — On the arrival of any such vessel at the port of 
destination, it shall be the duty of the master thereof forthwith to 
present to the proper officer of the customs the certified manifest of 
her cargo, whereupon the officer shall cause the vessel to be dis- 
charged under Ms general supervision, and if the cargo is found to 
correspond with the manifest a certificate to that effect shall be given 
to the master. If there shall be found any prohibited articles they 
shall be seized and held subject to the orders of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, and the officer shall forthwith report to the Department all 



35S LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the facts of the case ; and any such vessel arriving from any foreign 
port, or from any domestic port, without a proper clearance, or with 
contraband articles, shall, with the cargo, be seized and held as sub- 
ject to confiscation under the laws of the United States. 

" Sixth. — Lading within and Departure from an Insurrec- 
tionary State. — Vessels in ports within an insurrectionary State 
not declared open to the commerce of the world shall be laden under 
the supervision of the proper officer of this Department, whose duty 
it shall be to require before any articles are allowed to be shipped 
satisfactory evidence that upon all merchandise the taxes and fees 
required by law and these regulations have been paid, or secured to 
be paid, which fact, with the amount so paid, shall be certified upon 
the manifest. No clearance shall be granted. If upon any article so 
shipped the fees and internal revenue taxes or either shall only have 
been secured to be paid, such facts shall be noted upon the manifest, 
and the proper officer at the port of destination of such vessel shall 
hold the goods till all such taxes and fees shall be paid according to 
law and these regulations. 

" Seventh. — Supply Stores. — Persons desiring to keep a supply 
store at any place within an insurrectionary State shall make applica- 
tion therefor to the nearest officer of the Treasuiy Department, which 
application shall set forth that the applicant is loyal to the Govern- 
ment of the United States ; and upon being convinced of such loyalty 
a license for such supply store shall forthwith be granted, and the 
person to whom the license is given shall be authorized to purchase 
goods at any other supply store within the insurrectionary States, or 
at such other p*oint as he may select. The party receiving such license 
shall pay therefor the license fee prescribed by the Internal Revenue 
law. 

" Eighth. — Exempted Articles. — All articles of local production 
and consumption, such as fruits, butter, ice, eggs, meat, wood, coal, 
etc., may, without fee or restriction, be freely transported and sold at 
such points, in an insurrectionary State as the owner may desire. 

'•• Xinth. — Shipment op Produce of an Insurrectionary 
State. —All cotton not produced by persons with their own labor or 
with the labor of freedmen or others employed and paid by them 
must, before shipment to any port or place in a loyal State, be sold 
to and resold by an officer of the Government especially appointed 
for the purpose under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury and approved by the President ; and before allowing any 
cotton or other product to be shipped, or granting clearance for any 
vessel, the proper customs officer or other persons acting as such must 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 359 

require from the purchasing agent or the internal revenue officer a 
certificate that the cotton proposed to be shipped has been resold by 
him, or that twenty-five per cent, of the value thereof has been paid 
to such purchasing agent in money, and that the cotton is thereby 
free from further fee or tax. If the cotton proposed to be shipped is 
claimed and proved to be the product of a person's own labor, or of 
freedmen or others employed and paid by them, the officer will re- 
quire that the shipping fee of three cents per pound shall be paid or 
secured to be paid thereon. If any product other than cotton is 
offered for shipment the certificate of the internal revenue officer that 
all internal taxes due thereon have been collected and paid must be 
produced prior to such products being shipped or cleared, and if 
there is no internal revenue officer then such taxes shall be collected 
by the customs officer, or he shall cause the same to be secured to be 
paid, provided in these regulations. 

" Tenth. — Inland Transportation. — The provisions of these reg- 
ulations, necessarily modified, shall be considered applicable to all 
shipments inland to or within the insurrectionary States by any 
means of transportation whatsoever. 

" Elventh. — Charges. — Goods not prohibited may be transported 
to insurrectionary States free. The charges upon all products ship- 
ped or transported from an insurrectionary State, other than upon 
cotton, shall be the charges prescribed by the internal revenue laws. 
Upon cotton, other than that purchased and resold by the Govern- 
ment, three cents per pound, which must be credited by the officer 
collecting as follows, viz : Two cents per pound as the shipping fee. 
All cotton purchased and resold by the Government sjtiall be allowed 
to be transported free from all fees and taxes whatsoever. 

" Twelfth. — Eecords to be Kept. — Full and complete accounts 
and records must be kept by all officers acting under these regula- 
tions of their transactions under them, in such manner and form as 
shall be prescribed by the Commissioner of Customs. 

" Thirteenth. — Loyalty a Requisite. — No goods shall be sold in 
an insurrectionary State by or to, nor any transportation held with 
any person or persons not loyal to the Government of the United 
States. Proof of loyalty must be the taking and subscribing the fol- 
lowing oath or evidence, to be filed, that it, or one similar in purport 

and meaning has been taken, viz : I, , do solemnly swear, in 

presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, 
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and all 
laws made in pursuance thereto. 

"Fourteenth. — Former Regulations Revoked. — These regula- 



360 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

tions shall take effect and be in force on and after the 10th day of 
May, 1865, and shall supersede all other regulations and circulars 
heretofore prescribed by the Treasury Department concerning com- 
mercial intercourse between loyal and insurrectionary States, all of 
which are hereby rescinded and annulled. 

" HUGH McCULLOCH, Secretary of the Treasury:' 

APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT. 

"Executive Chamber, Washington, May 9, 1865. 
" The foregoing rules and regulations concerning commercial inter- 
course with and in States and parts of States declared in insurrection, 
prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury in conformity with the 
acts of Congress relating thereto, having been seen and considered 
by me, are hereby approved. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON." 

Under the same date, the following important Executive 
orders were issued on 

THE RESTORATION OF VIRGINIA. 

" Executive Chamber, Washington City, ) 
May 9, 1865. j 

" Ordered — First : That all acts and proceedings of the political, 
military and civil organizations which have been in a state of insur- 
rection and rebellion within the State of Virginia against the author- 
ity and laws of the United States, and of which Jefferson Davis, 
John Letcher and William Smith were late the respective chiefs, are 
declared null and void. All persons who shall exercise, claim, pre- 
tend, or attempt to exercise any political, military or civil power, 
authority, jurisdiction, or right, by, through, or under Jefferson 
Davis, late of the City of Richmond, and his confederates, or under 
John Letcher or William Smith and then- confederates, or under any 
pretended political, military, or civil commission or authority issued 
by them or either of them since the 17th day of April, 1851, shall 
be deemed and taken as in rebellion against the United States, and 
shall be dealt with accordingly. 

" Second — That the Secretary of State proceed to put in force all 
laws of the United States, the administration whereof belongs to the 
Depaftment of State, applicable to the geographical limits aforesaid. 

" T/t ird — That the Secretary of the Treasury proceed, without delay, 
to nominate for appointment assessors of taxes and collectors of cus- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 361 

toms and internal revenue, and sucli other officers of the Treasury- 
Department as are authorized by law, and shall put in execution the 
revenue laws of the United States within the geographical limits 
aforesaid. In making appointments, the preference shall be given to 
qualified loyal persons residing within the districts where their re- 
spective duties are to be performed. But if suitable persons shall 
not be found residents of the districts, then persons residing in 
other States or districts shall be appointed. 

" Fourth — That the Postmaster-General shall proceed to establish 
Post-offices and post routes, and put into execution the postal laws 
of the United States, within the said States, giving to loyal residents 
the preference of appointment ; but if suitable persons are not found, 
then to appoint agents, etc., from other States. 

" Fifth — That the District Judge of said district proceed to hold 
courts within said State, in accordance with the provisions of the 
acts of Congress. The Attorney-General will instruct the proper 
officers to libel, and bring to judgment, confiscation, and sale, prop- 
erty subject to confiscation, and enforce the administration of justice 
within said State, in all matters civil and criminal within the cog- 
nizances and jurisdiction of the Federal courts. 

" Sixth — That the Secretary of War assign such Assistant Provost- 
Marshal-General, and such Provost-Marshals in each district of said 
State as he may deem necessary. 

11 Seventh — The Secretary of the Navy will take possession of all 
public property belonging to the Navy Department within said 
geographical limits, and put in operation all acts of Congress in re- 
lation to naval affairs having application to the said State. 

" Eighth — The Secretary of the Interior will also put in force the 
laws relating to the Department of the Interior. 

" Nin fh — That to carry into effect the guarantee of the Federal Con- 
stitution of a Republican form of government, and afford the advan- 
tage and security of domestic laws, as well as to complete the 
re-establishment of the authority of the laws of the United States, 
and the full and complete restoration of peace within the limits 
aforesaid, Francis H. Pierpont, Governor of the State of Virginia, 
will be aided by the Federal Government, so far as may be necessary, 
in the lawful measures which he may take for the extension and ad- 
ministration of the State Government throughout the geographical 
limits of said State. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
r t the seal of the United States to be affixed, 

1 ' J "ANDREW JOHNSON. 

" By the President : 

" W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.'''' 
16 



362 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

On the next day the President issued his Proclamation, 
announcing the virtual close of the rebellion, and declaring 
that the vessels of all foreign Governments extending hos- 
pitality to insurgent cruisers will be refused hospitality in 
all ports of the United States. 

PROCLAMATION. — CLOSE OF THE REBELLION. 

" Whereas, The President of the United States, by his proclama- 
tion of the nineteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-one, did declare certain States therein mentioned in insurrec- 
tion against the Government of the United States: 

" And whereas armed resistance to the authority of this Govern- 
ment, in the said insurrectionary States may be regarded as virtually 
at an end, and the persons by whom that resistance, as well as the 
operations of insurgent cruisers, were directed, are fugitives or cap- 
tives : 

" And whereas it is understood that some of those cruisers are still 
infesting the high seas, and others are preparing to capture, burn, 
and destroy vessels of the United States : 

" Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Andrew Johnson, Presi- 
dent of the United States, hereby enjoin all naval, military, and 
civil officers of the United States, diligently to endeavor, by all 
lawful means, to arrest the said cruisers, and to bring them into 
a port of the United States, in order that they may be prevented 
from committing further depredations on commerce, and that the 
persons on board of them may no longer enjoy impunity for their 
crimes. 

" And I further proclaim and declare, that if, after a reasonable 
time shall have elapsed for this proclamation to become known in 
the ports of nations claiming to have been neutrals, the said insur- 
gent cruisers, and the persons on board of them, shall continue to 
receive hospitality in the said ports, this Government will deem 
itself justified in refusing hospitality to the public vessels of such 
nations in ports of the United States, and in adopting such other 
measures as may be deemed advisable toward vindicating the 
national sovereignty. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the City of Washington, this tenth day of May, in the 



OF AX DUE W JOHN'S ON. 363 

year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 

" By the President : 
" W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.' 1 ' 1 

On the lltli May, the President admitted to audience a 
number of colored pastors and others, who were introduced 
bv Rev. E. Turner, President of the National Theological 
Institute for colored ministers. Mr. Turner addressed the 
President, and presented a copy of resolutions, expressing, 
among other things, their gratitude for the Emancipation 
Proclamation. 

In reply, President Johnson thought it almost unnecessary 
to repeat what his views and course had been in relation to 
the colored man. It was known that he was born and raised 
in a slave State, and had owned slaves ; but had never sold 
one. They were now all free. Referring to the difference 
in the responsibility which persons who reside in the slave 
States have to take on the subject of emancipation from 
those who reside out of them, lie said it was very easy for 
men who live beyond their borders, to get up a sympathy 
and talk about the condition of colored persons when they 
knew nothing about it. Their great sympathy was not 
reduced to practice. It was known that there were men in 
the Soutli, notwithstanding the two classes once occupied 
the position of master and servant, who felt a deep interest 
in their welfare, and did much to ameliorate the condition 
of the freedmen. He repeated that it would be unnecessary 
for him to make a profession of what he had done on the 
subject of emancipation, for which he had met with taunts, 
frowns and jibes, and incurred all kinds of dangers to pro- 
perty, life and limb. He claimed no merit for this, because 
he was only carrying out the principles he always enter- 
tained, namely that man could not hold property in man. 
He was the first who stood in a slave community and an- 



364 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

nounced the fact that the slaves of the State of Tennessee 
had as much right to be free as those who claimed them as 
their property. When the tyrant's rod is bent, and the 
yoke broken, the passing from one extreme to the other, from 
bondage to freedom, is difficult, and in this transition state 
some think they have nothing to do but fall back upon the 
Government for support in order that they may be taken 
care of in idleness and debauchery- There was an idea 
which those whom he addressed ought to inculcate, namely, 
that freedom simply means liberty to work and to enjoy the 
product of a man's own toil, and how much he may put into 
his stomach and on his back. He meant this in its most 
extensive sense. Gentlemen in Congress and people of the 
North and South talk about Brigham Young and debauchery 
of various kinds existing among the Mormons, but it was 
known that four millions of people within the limits of the 
South have always been in open and notorious concubinage. 
The correction of these things is necessary in commencing a 
reform in the social condition, and in this there must be a 
force of example. He would do all in his power to secure 
their protection and ameliorate their condition. He trusted 
in God the time may come when all the colored people may 
be gathered together in one country best adapted to their 
condition, if it should appear that they could not get along 
well together with the whites. He expressed the hope that 
the efforts for their social and moral improvement would be 
successful, and in this he promised his co-operation ; and in 
conclusion he thanked his audience for their manifestations 
of kindness and the evidences of their friendship. 

On the 13th May the new French Minister (Marquis de 
Montholon) was presented to President Johnson, when the 
following official courtesies were exchanged. The Marquis 
said : 

" Mr. President, — I have the honor to place in your hand the letter 
of the Emperor of the French, which accredits me in the character 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 365 

of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near your 
Excellency. If I seek for what may have determined his Imperial 
Majesty to give me this distinguished mark of his confidence, I can 
attribute it only to the recollection of the ties which already attach 
me to this country. The personal relations which I have previously 
contracted in it during a loug sojourn, and the sympathies of which 
I am proud to have received numerous proofs, have made me ap- 
pear, without doubt, better prepared than another to serve as the 
interpreter of the sentiment which animates the Imperial Govern- 
ment towards the Government and people of the United States. In 
fact, glorious traditions, the importance whereof we maintain with 
pride, do not permit that France should ever be indifferent to the 
destinies of this great republic. Immense interests, which every 
day develop themselves more fully, will draw together more and 
more closely this noble and ancient alliance. I am happy to bring, 
rather on a solemn occasion, the loyal and frank expression of the 
wishes which the Emperor, my august sovereign, forms for the com- 
plete restoration of peace and concord on the continent of America. 
The whole of France participates in the same thought, and will 
always view with satisfaction the consolidation of the prosjierity 
and greatness of the United States. Animated by the sentiments 
of deep sympathy with the American Union, their Imperial Majesties 
and France share equally with the whole nation in the grief which 
the most atrocious of crimes has just plunged the Government and 
people of the United States/' 

The President replied : 

" M. Le Marquis de Montholon, — I cannot forbear to welcome as 
the diplomatic representative of France a gentleman who claims to 
be strongly attached to the United States by those ties incident to 
family connection and long previous official residence in this coun- 
try, to which you so gracefully allude. The intimacy with the 
the head of your own Government, which has resulted from well- 
known antecedents, cannot fail to impart, perhaps, universal con- 
fidence to your representations in respect to his purposes and policy 
with reference to the United States. The people of this country 
have a traditional regard for France, which was originally so deeply 
planted, and has been so universally and warmly cherished that it 
must continue to furnish and expand, unless it should be checked 
by events most uncommon, and not to be anticipated by ordinary 
foresight. I trust that the result of your mission will be to strength- 
en and perpetuate the good understanding between our two Gov- 



366 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ernments, and Chat perfect peace may be restored on the American 
continent pursuant to these wishes of your Sovereign to which you 
refer. I offer you my hearty thanks for the sympathy which you 
express in behalf of their Imperial Majesties, for the recent tragical 
events in this metropolis." 

On the 13th also a dispatch was received at the War 
Department from Brevet Major-Gcneral J. H. Wilson, dated 
Macon, Ga., May 12th, 11a. m., reporting that at daylight 
of the 10th instant Colonel Pritchard, commanding Fourth 
Michigan cavalry, surprised and captured Jeff. Davis and 
family, with J. H. Reagan, "Postmaster-General," and others. 
A later dispatch from the same officer gives the incidents 
following the surprise : 

" The captors report that he hastily put on one of his wife's dresses 
and started for the woods, closely followed by our men, who at first 
thought him a woman, but seeing his boots while he was running, 
they suspected his sex at once. The race was a short one, and the 
rebel President was soon brought to bay. He brandished a bowie 
knife and showed signs of battle, but yielded promptly to the per- 
suasions of Colt's revolvers without compelling the men to fire. He 
expressed great indignation at the energy with which he was pur- 
sued, saying that he had believed our Government were too magnani- 
mous to hunt down women and children. Mrs. Davis remarked to 
Colonel Harden, after the excitement was over, that the men had bet- 
ter not provoke the President, or ' he might hurt some of 'em.' Rea- 
gan behaves himself with dignity and resignation. The party, evi- 
dently, were making for the coast. 

"J. H. WILSON, Brevet Major- General" 

General Wilson had previously, by dispatch of the 8th, 
announced the surrender of the rebel General Dick Taylor. 
Prominent civil and military leaders of the rebellion were 
being captured or surrendered themselves at various points — 
among them A. H. Stephens, Vice-President of the " Con- 
federacy " — acknowledging the utter failure of their attempt 
at secession. The War Department issued an order declar- 
ing that all the forces of the enemy east of the Mississippi 
river having been duly surrendered, under agreements of 



OF ANDREW JOHWSOK 367 

parole and disbandment, and there being no authorized 
troops of the enemy cast of the Mississippi river, all persons 
found in arms against the United States, or who committed 
acts of hostility against it east of the Mississippi river, from 
and after June 1st, would be regarded as guerrillas and pun- 
ished with death. Major- General Philip H. Sheridan was 
assigned to the command of all the troops west of the Mis- 
sissippi. The work of reconstruction therefore presented 
itself with still greater force on the Administration,* and 
will be mainly illustrated by the following documents : 

OPENING OF TRADE — BELLIGERENT RIGHTS DISAVOWED. 

" Whereas, by the proclamation of the President, of the 11th day 
of April last, certain ports of the United States therein specified, 
which had previously been subject to blockade, were, for objects of 
public safety, declared, in conformity with previous special legisla- 
tion of Congress, to be closed against foreign commerce during the 
national will, to be thereafter expressed and made known by the 
President : 

" And irhereas, events and circumstances have since occurred which, 
in my judgment, render it expedient to remove that restriction, ex- 
cept as to the ports of Galveston, La Salle, Brazos de Santiago, Point 
Isabel and Brownsville, in the State of Texas : 

" Now, therefore, be it know, that I, Andrew Johnson, President 
of the United States, do hereby declare that the ports aforesaid, 
not excepted as above, shall be open to foreign commerce from and 
after the 1st day of July next ; that commercial intercourse with the 
said ports may from that time be carried on subject to the laws of 
the United States, and in pursuance of such regulations as may be 
prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. If, however, any vessel 
from a foreign port shall enter any of the before-named excepted 
ports in the State of Texas, she will continue to be held liable to the 
penalties prescribed by the act of Congress, approved on the 13th 
day of July, 1861, and the persons on board of her to such penalties 
as may be incurred pursuant to the laws of war for trading or at- 
tempting to trade with an enemy. 

"And I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States of 
America, do hereby declare and make known that the United States 

* On the 15th the Hon. Mr. Usher, Secretary of the Interior, retired and was 
succeeded by Hon. James Harlan, formerly United States Senator from Iowa. 



368 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

of America do henceforth disavow to all persons trading or attempt- 
ing to trade in any of the United States in violation of the laws 
thereof, all pretense of belligerent rights and privileges ; and I give 
notice, from the date of this proclamation, all such offenders will be 
held and dealt with as pirates. 

" It is also ordered that all restrictions upon trade heretofore im- 
posed in the territory of the United States east of the Mississippi 
river, save those relating to contraband of war, to the reservation of 
the rights of the United States, to property purchased in the territory 
of an enemy, and to the twenty-five per cent, upon purchases of cot- 
ton, are removed. All provisions of the Internal Revenue law will 
be carried into effect under the proper officer. 
" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 

seal of the United States to be affixed. 
" Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of May, in 

the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, 

and of the independence of the United States of America, the 

eighty-ninth. 
" By the President : " ANDREW JOHNSON. 

W. Huntek, Acting Secretary of State.'''' 

On the 22d of May President Johnson declined to receive 
a fine carriage, span of horses, and suitable equipments from 
a number of prominent citizens of New York, having ever 
held it to be the duty of those occupying high official posi- 
tions to decline such offerings. On the 23d the grand Army 
of the Potomac, under Major-General Meade, and Major- 
General Sheridan's invincible cavalry, were reviewed by the 
President, attended by the Cabinet, Generals Grant and 
Sherman, the diplomatic corps and a vast multitude of spec- 
tators from all parts of the United States. On the next day 
General Sherman's command, the Armies of Tennessee and 
Georgia, were reviewed amid equal demonstrations of en- 
thusiasm and delight. On both days the paths of the favorite 
and successful generals were strewn with flowers, and the 
soldiers welcomed with boundless joy. President Johnson, 
members of the Cabinet, and Generals Grant, Sherman and 
Meade were frequently compelled to rise and bow their 
acknowledgments. 



OF ANDREW JOIIXSON. 309 

The President removed his office to the White House on 
the 25th, where he received a visit from Secretary Seward, 
supported by two servants and accompanied by his daugh- 
ters. 

A dispatch from General Canby, dated New Orleans, 
May 2G, announcing the conclusion of " arrangements for 
the surrender" of Kirby Smith's forces in the Trans-Missis- 
sippi having been received, the President issued the follow- 
ing order : 

" Washington, Saturday, May 27. 

" The following order has just been issued from the War Depart- 
ment : 

" That in all cases of sentences by military tribunals of imprison- 
ment during the war, the sentence be remitted, and that the prisoners 
be discharged. 

" The Adjutant-General will issue immediately the necessary in- 
structions to carry this order into effect. 

" By order of the President. 

(Signed) EDWIN M. STANTON, 

Secretary of War." 
24 



CHAPTEK XXII. 

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 

Amnesty Proclamation — Reconstruction Policy — The President and the Sun- 
day-school Children — Provisional Governors for North Carolina and Mis- 
sissippi — Farther Removal of Trade Restrictions — A Deputation of Col- 
ored Men from Virginia — Provisional Governors for Georgia, Texas and 
Alabama — All Trade Restrictions removed — Interesting Interview of 
South Carolinians with the President — Plain Talk — Negro Suffrage : who 
would control the Negro vote? — Position and Desires of South Carolina — 
The Twenty-thousand Dollar Clause in the Amnesty Proclamation — Pro- 
visional Governor for South Carolina — Ill-health of the President — Get- 
tysburgh Letter — Approves the Sentences on the Assassination Conspira- 
tors — Virginia Merchants wish the Twenty-thousand Dollar Exceptions 
removed; the President's' Views on the subject — Provisional Governor for 
Florida — Interview with Couth Carolina Delegation; Governor Perry's 
account to Governor Brownlow — Attorney-General's Opinion on Legality 
of the Military Tribunal —Secretary of Interior's Decision on Homestead 
Law — Appointments to the Port of New York — Interview with Pardon- 
seekers — Conclusion. 

All organized means of military resistance to the supre- 
macy of the United States Government flag were now ter- 
minated ; and President Johnson immediately followed up 
the announcement by two most important documents on 
the 29th of May — the Amnesty Proclamation and the Pro- 
clamation appointing a Provisional Government for the 
State of North Carolina ; and indicating the reconstruction 
or restoration policy to be pursued by him towards the 
lately insurgent States. 

AMNESTY. 

Proclamation by the President of the United States of America. 

" Whereas, the President of the United States, on the eighth day 
of December, a. d. eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and on the 
(370) 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 371 

twenty-sixth day of March, a. d. eighteen hundred and sixty-four, 
did, with the object to suppress the existing rebellion, to induce all 
persons to return to their loyalty and to restore the authority of the 
United States, issue proclamations offering amnesty and pardon to 
certain persons who had, directly or by implication, participated in 
the said rebellion ; and 

" Whereas many persons, who had so engaged in said rebellion, 
have since the issuance of said proclamation failed or neglected to 
take the benefits offered thereby ; and 

" Whereas, many persons, who have been justly deprived of all 
claim to amnesty and pardon thereunder by reason of their partici- 
pation, directly or by implication, in said rebellion and continued 
hostility to the Government of the United States since the date of 
said proclamation, now desire to apply for and obtain amnesty and 
pardon ; 

"To the end, therefore, that the authority of the Government of 
the United States may be restored, and that peace, order and freedom 
may be established, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United 
States, do proclaim and declare that I hereby grant to all persons 
who have directly or indirectly participated in the existing rebellion, 
except as hereinafter excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restora- 
tion of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and except in cases 
where legal proceedings, under the laws of the United States pro- 
viding for the confiscation of property of persons engaged in rebel- 
lion, have been instituted, but on the condition, nevertheless, that 
every such person shall take and subscribe the following oath or 
affirmation, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath invio- 
late, and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation, 
and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit : 

" I , do solemnly swear or affirm, in presence of Almighty 

God, that I will henceforth faithfully support and defend the consti- 
tution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder, 
and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all 
laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing 
rebellion with reference to the emancipationof slaves. So help me God. 

" The following classes of persons are excepted from the benefits 
of this proclamation : 

" First — All who are, or shall have been, pretended civil or diplo- 
matic officers or otherwise, domestic or foreign agents of the pre- 
tended Confederate government. 

" Second— A\\ who left judicial stations under the United States 
to aid the rebellion. 



372 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Third — All who have been military or naval officers of said pre- 
tended Confederate government above the rank of colonel in the 
army or lieutenant in the navy. 

'■'•Fourth — All who left seats in the Congress of the United States 
to aid the rebellion. 

" Fifth— All who resigned or tendered resignations of then- com- 
missions in the army or navy of the United States to evade duty in 
resisting the rebellion. 

" Sixth — All who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise 
than lawfully as prisoners of war persons found in the United States 
service, as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities. 

" Si rcuth—Ml persons who have been or are absentees from the 
United States for the puqjose of aiding the rebellion. 

" Ek/h th — All military and naval officers in the rebel service who 
were educated by the Government in the Military Academy at West 
Point, or the United States Naval Academy. 

" Ninth. — All persons who held the pretended offices of Governors 
of States in insurrection against the United States. 

" Tenth — All persons who left their homes within the jurisdiction 
and protection of the United States, and passed beyond the Federal 
military lines into the so-called Confederate States for the purpose 
of aiding the rebellion. 

'• Eleventh — All persons who have been engaged in the destruction 
of the commerce of the United States upon the high seas, and all per- 
sons who have made raids into the United States from Canada, or 
been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United States upon 
lakes and rivers that separate the British provinces from the United 
States. 

" Twelfth — All persons who, at the time when they seek to obtain 
the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in mili- 
tary, naval or civil confinement or custody, or under bonds of the 
civil, military or naval authorities of agents of the United States, as 
prisoners of war, or persons detained for offences of any kind either 
before or after conviction. 

" Thirteenth — All persons who have voluntarily participated in 
said rebellion, and the estimated value of whose taxable property is 
over twenty thousand dollars. 

" Fourteenth — All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty as 
prescribed in the President's proclamation of December eight, a. d. 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, or an oath of allegiance 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 373 

to the Government of the United States since the date of said pro- 
clamation, and who have not thenceforward kept and maintained the 
same inviolate : 

" Provided that special application may be made to the President 
for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes, and 
such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with 
the facts of the case and the j)eace and dignity of the United States. 

" The Secretary of State will establish rules and regulations for ad- 
ministering and recording the said amnesty oath so as to insure its 
benefit to the people, and guard the Government against fraud. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-ninth day of May, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, 
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 

11 By the P resilient : 

" Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State.''' 1 

NORTH CAROLINA — RECONSTRUCTION. 
Proclamation by the President of the United States. 

" Whereas, The fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States declares that the United States shall 
guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of Govern- 
ment, and shall protect each of them against invasion and domestic 
violence ; and 

" Whereas, The President of the United States is by the Constitu- 
tion made Commander-in-Chief of the Arrny and Navy, as well as 
chief executive officer of the United States, and is bound by solemn 
oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United 
States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed ; and 

" Whereas, The rebellion, which has been waged by a portion of 
the people of the United States against the properly constituted 
authorities of the Government thereof in the most violent and re- 
volting form, but whose organized and armed forces have now been 
almost entirely overcome, has' in its revolutionary progress deprived 
the people of the State of North Carolina of all civil government ; 
and 

u Whereas, It becomes necessary and proper to carry out and en- 
force the obligations of the United States to the people of North 
Carolina in securing them in the enjoyment of a republican form of 
Government, 



374 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn duties im- 
posed upon me by the Constitution of the United States, and for tho 
purpose of enabling the loyal people of said State to organize a State 
Government, whereby justice may be established, domestic tranquility 
insured, and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, liberty 
and property, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, 
and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United 
States, do hereby appoint William W. Holden provisional Governor 
of the State of North Carolina, whose duty it shall be, at the ear- 
liest practical period, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may 
be necessary and proper for convening a convention composed of 
delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people of said State 
who arc loyal to the United States, and no others, for the purpose 
of altering or amending the Constitution thereof, and with authority 
to exercise within the limits of said State all the powers necessary 
and proper to enable such loyal people of the State of North Caro- 
lina to restore said State to its constitutional relations to the Federal 
Government, and to present such a republican form of State Govern- 
ment as will entitle the State to the guarantee of the United States 
therefor, and its people to the protection of the United States 
against invasion, insurrection and domestic violence : Provided that 
in any election that may be hereafter held for choosing delegates to 
any State convention, as aforesaid, no person shall be qualified as an 
elector, or shall be eligible as a member of such convention, unless 
he shall have previously taken and subscribed to the oath or amnesty 
as set forth in the President's proclamation of May 29, 1865, and is 
a voter qualified as prescribed by the Constitution and laws of the 
State of North Carolina in force immediately before the 20th day of 
May, A. D. 1861, the date of the so-called ordinance of secession ; 
and the said convention, when convened, or the Legislature that may 
be thereafter assembled, Avill prescribe the qualifications of electors 
and the eligibility of persons to hold office under the Constitution 
and laws of the State — a power the people of the several States 
composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the 
origin of the Government to the present time. And I do hereby 
direct : 

"■First — That the military commander of the department, and all 
officers and persons in the military and naval service, aid and assist 
the said Provisional Governor in carrying into effect this proclama- 
tion ; and they are enjoined to abstain from in any way hindering, 
impeding or discouraging the loyal people from the organization of 
a State Government as herein authorized. 



OF ANDREW JOUNSOK 375 

" Second— That the Secretary of State proceed to put in force all 
laws of the Urited States, the administration whereof belongs to 
the State Department, applicable to the geographical limits aforesaid. 

" Third — That the Secretary of the Treasury proceed to nominate 
for appointment assessors of taxes and collectors of customs and in- 
ternal revenue, and such other officers of the Treasury Department 
as are authorized by law, and put in execution the revenue laws of 
the United States within the geographical limits aforesaid. 

"In making the appointments the preference shall be given to 
qualified loyal persons residing within the districts where the re- 
spective duties are to be performed ; but if suitable residents of the 
district shall not be found, then persons residing in other States or 
districts shall be appointed. 

"Fourth — That the Postmaster General proceed to establish post 
routes and put into execution the postal laws of the United States 
within the said State, giving to loyal residents the preference of ap- 
pointment; but if suitable residents are not found, then appoint 
agents from other States. 

" Fifth — That the District Judge for the Judicial District in which 
North Carolina is included proceed to hold courts within said State, 
in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress. 

"The Attorney General will instruct the proper officers to libel and 
bring to judgment, confiscation and sale, property subject to confis- 
cation, and enforce the administration of justice within said State 
in all matters within the cognizance and jurisdiction of the federal 
courts. 

" Sixth — That the Secretary of the Navy take possession of all 
public property belonging to the Navy Department within said 
geographical limits, and put in operation all acts of Congress in re- 
lation to naval affairs having application to said State. 

"Seventh — That the Secretary of the Interior put in force the laws 
relating to the Interior Department applicable to the geographical 
limits aforesaid. 
" In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 

seal of the United States to be affixed. 
" Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-ninth day of May, in 

the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, 

and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 
" By the President: 

"William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 



376 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES . 

The same day on which these most important documents 
were promulgated the President made an address which is 
in beautiful contrast, though auxiliary to his more pointedly 
political and diplomatic expressions of thought. Although 
spoken to children, it cannot be omitted from the record of 
the man, much less the President. On that day the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of the Washington City Sunday School 
Union was celebrated. Five thousand children and seven 
hundred teachers and school officers having assembled at an 
early hour in -Lafayette Square, marched past the residence 
of President Johnson. The President appeared and was 
greeted by the children, who while marching by sang a pa- 
triotic hymn. The National Intelligencer, describing; the 
scene, says : " The President was frequently cheered, and 
was the recipient of a large number of bouquets, which were 
thrown into his hat until it was so full that a basket was 
brought forth to contain the floral gifts. After the children 
had marched past the' residence of the President, they 
marched down Fifteenth-street, and thence to the Executive 
Mansion, where, after they had assembled, the President 
took position in front of the outside railing and delivered 
an address. Just before he began to speak, a number of 
little girls were placed upon the stand beside and all around 
him, and he seemed much pleased to be surrounded by the 
children." 

" The President said, if be understood the design of the exhibition, 
it was intended, in part, to show bow many children are collected to- 
gether in good schools. This was their annual celebration, and they 
bad come by what was generally known as the Executive Mansion in 
order, he supposed, to manifest their regard for the chief executive 
officer of the nation. And this respect was offered now to one who 
knew well bow to appreciate the condition of poor or obscure chil- 
dren. He had always opposed the idea of treating persons beyond 
their due, and what they justly merited, and he would lay that down 
as a general proposition in his address to the little boys and girls 
who had done him the honor to call upon him. He was opposed to 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 377 

deifying or canonizing anything that is mortal; but there should 
always be a just and proper respect and appreciation of true merit, 
whether it belongs to the Christian, the statesman, or the philan- 
thropist. This was the foundation of his creed: that all things 
should be done with the approval of Him who controls the event3 
and destinies of the world. To these children — he might say his 
little sons and daughters — he would say he desired them to appre- 
ciate the difference between merit and demerit, and he would address 
his remarks to those who were in better, as well as to those who 
were in humbler circumstances. To those who had superior advan- 
tages he would say, do not become foolish and silly because your 
parents can afford to dress you a little better, or to educate you bet- 
ter. They should feel and know that their parents and teachers can- 
not of themselves educate them. No one ever would be educated 
unless he educated himself. Whether you have superior advantages 
or not, you must educate yourselves. Parents, teachers and advan- 
tages given are simply the means placed in your hands from which 
you must mould and shape your own course through life. But never 
feel that you are superior to your more humble companions and com- 
rades. Instead of trying to humble them and make their condition 
lower, your pride should be to elevate them to the standard you 
occupy. Sometimes one may come in rags and begrimed with dirt ; 
but beneath the rags and the dirt a jewel may be found as bright {.s 
any yet discovered, and the humble individual may develop that 
which would prove as bright an ornament as the jewels of any 
crowned head. All should understand this, and that even those 
who have no means can at least make an effort to be good and great. 
In this matter he (the speaker) was an agrarian — such an agrarian as 
would elevate and estimate all in proportion to their virtue and 
merit. Intrinsic merit should be the base upon which all should 
stand. He would pull none down, but would elevate all — level up- 
wards, not level downwards. His notion had always been that the 
great mass of the American people could be elevated. If all will be 
elevated, we may become the greatest and most exalted nation on 
the earth. 

" My little daughters and sons, give me your attention while I say, 
honestly and truly, that if I could inform you of something, and put 
that into immediate effect, which would tend to the elevation of you 
all, I would be prouder of it than to be President forty times. Here 
is the Executive Mansion, and yonder is the Capitol of a great na- 
tion, and you look to those who make and execute the laws as per- 
sons sublime and grand. But just think for a moment. You are 
the crop behind us. All those buildings, and all of this Government, 



378 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

will one day pass under your control and become your property, and 
you will have to put in force and control the principles of govern- 
ment, of religion and humanity. And let all boys consider — every 
mother's son of them — [laughter] — that each one is born a candi- 
date for the Presidency. [Laughter and applause.] Why not, then, 
commence at once to educate yourselves for the Presidency ? And 
he would say to the little girls, that while they could not be Presi- 
dents, they are born candidates for the wives of Presidents. [Laugh- 
ter.] While each little boy may feel he is a candidate for the Presi- 
dency, each little girl may feel she is a candidate for a President's 
wife ; and each should commence at once to qualify himself and her- 
self morally, intellectually and socially for such high positions. 
While upon this subject he would say that teachers occupy most 
responsible positions. It is the teacher who fashions, to a great de- 
gree, the mind of the child, and, consequently, the great importance 
of having good teachers, especially for the very young, in order to 
instil into their minds the foundation of a good-education. 

M With regard to religion, the speaker said the time had come 
when the first inquiry should be whether one is a good man or a 
good woman. If they are good it matters little to what sect or 
church they belong. There can be no greatness without goodness ; 
and all should remember with Pope, that 

' Honor and fame from no condition rise ; 
Act well your part — there all the honor lies.' 

" Under institutions such as ours, he who performs his part well, 
performs all his obligations, will sooner or later be properly estimated 
and rewarded by his friends, his neighbors, and the nation. 

" In looking upon the children, and upon the grown persons, too, 
the speaker said he could not but think of the heavy task and respon- 
sibility devolving upon those who rear children, and especially upon 
the mothers. The speaker then eloquently referred to the ancient 
Roman mothers, who ever took pride in infusing proper ideas into 
the minds of those who afterwards became distinguished in life. So, 
with them, each mother of to-day should feel that her children are 
her greatest jewels. They should be reared with a view to future 
usefulness ; for much depends upon how they are educated in youth. 
The daughters should be raised to fit them for the high and exalted 
duties of wives and mothers. And much in this world depends upon 
woman. Her mind properly prepared and cultivated, she has an 
almost omnipotent power. Drop, then, into the minds of your 
daughters germs that will expand and grow, and fit them to occupy 
any position to which they may be called in life. 



OF ANDREW JOnXSOX. 3*9 

" When we look at these boys and girls — at the banners which 
they carry— at the flag, with stripes and stars upon them, which they 
bear aloft ; when we look upon the brave men and gallant officers 
around us, and remember what they have been contending for — we 
feel that we can best preserve this Government if we rear up our 
people properly, and make this, as we can, the most intelligent por- 
tion of God's habitable globe. The stars and stripes is not an un- 
meaning symbol when we look back through the din of battle and 
see what it has cost to perpetuate this Government ; and should we 
not, then, use every effort to bring up properly these children, whose 
cause has been sustained by strong arms on the field of battle ? It 
was but the other day, when the stern voices of our commanders 
were heard upon the field of battle, and when men were bravely 
rushing to death, that the goddess of liberty made a glorious fight 
and in thunder tones proclaimed victory. Victory has perched upon 
our standard, and the speaker said he trusted the children's little 
song of victory would be heard far up above ; and that the angels, 
standing upon the battlements of Heaven, would take up the tune 
and make a response. 

"Then, my little sons and little daughters (said the President, 
talking as a father to his children), let me say to you, educate your- 
selves ; be industrious and persevering ; store your minds with all 
that is good ; put all things worthy of preservation in your brain, 
and your intellects will expand and grow. And, in conclusion, I 
say again, may your little song of victory be heard in heaven. God 
bless you." 

The President then attempted to enter the presidential 
mansion, but was intercepted in the carriageway by the 
ladies and gentlemen who had collected there, and who in- 
sisted upon shaking him by the hand. The President, com- 
plying in a most good-natured manner, held a sort of im- 
promptu levee. 

On the 13th of June the President issued a proclamation 
appointing Hon. William M. Sharkey Provisional Governor 
of Mississippi, and containing similar instructions and pro- 
visions as the above. He also, on the same day, issued the 
following proclamation, supplementary to those already is- 
sued respecting the more perfect and further removal of 
trade restrictions : 



380 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Whereas, By my j)roclauiati(>n of the 29th of April, 1865, all 
restrictions upon internal, domestic and commercial intercourse, with 
certain exceptions therein specified and set forth, were removed in 
such parts of the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and so 
much of Louisiana as lies east of the Mississippi river as sTiall be em- 
braced within the lines of the national military occupation ; and 
whereas, by my proclamation of the 2*2d of May, 1865, for reasons 
therein given, it was declared that certain ports of the United States 
which had been previously closed against foreign commerce should, 
with certain specified exceptions, be reopened to such commerce on 
and after the first day of July next, subject to the laws of the United 
States, and in pursuance of such regulations as might be prescribed 
by the Secretary of the Treasury, and, whereas, I am satisfactorily 
informed that dangerous combinations against the laws of the 
United States no longer exist within the State of Tennessee ; that 
the insurrection heretofore existing within the said State has been 
suppressed ; that within the boundaries thereof the authority of the 
United States is undisputed; and that such officers of the United 
States a3 have been duly commissioned are in the undisturbed exer- 
cise of their official functions ; 

" Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President 
of the United States, do hereby declare that all restrictions upon in- 
ternal domestic and coastwise intercourse and trade, and upon the 
removal of products of States heretofore declared in insurrection — 
reserving and excepting only those relating to contraband of war 
as hereinafter recited, and also those which relate to the reservation 
of rights of the United States to property purchased in the territory 
of an enemy, heretofore imposed in the territory of the United States 
east of the Mississippi river — are annulled ; and I do hereby direct 
that they be forthwith removed, and that on and after the first day 
of July next all restrictions upon foreign commerce with said ports, 
with the exception and reservation aforesaid, be removed, and that 
the commerce of said States shall be conducted under the supervi- 
sion of the regularly-appointed officers of the customs provided by 
law ; and such officers of the customs shall receive any captured and 
abandoned property that may be turned over to them under the law 
by the military or naval forces of the United States, and dispose of 
such property as shall be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

" The following articles, contraband of war, are excepted from the 
effect of this proclamation — arms, ammunition, all articles from which 
ammunition is made, and gray uniforms and cloth. 



OF AND BE W JOIINSOK 381 

"And I hereby also proclaim and declare that the insurrection, so 
far as it relates to and within the State of Tennessee and the inhabit- 
ants of the said State of Tennessee, as reorganized and constituted 
under their recently-adopted constitution and reorganization, and 
accepted by them, is suppressed ; and therefore also, that all disa- 
bilities and disqualifications attached to said State and the inhabit- 
ants thereof, consequent upon any proclamation issued by virtue of 
the fifth section of the act entitled, ' An act further to provide for 
collection of duties upon imports and for other purposes,' approved 
the 13th day of July, 1861, are removed. But nothing herein con- 
tained shall be considered or construed as in anywise changing or 
impairing any of the penalties and forfeitures for treason heretofore 
incurred under the laws of the United States, or any of the pro- 
visions, restrictions or disabilities set forth in my proclamation 
bearing date the 29th day of May, 1865, or as impairing existing 
regulations for the suspension of the habeas corpus and the exercise 
of military law in cases where it shall be necessary for the general 
public safety and welfare during the existing insurrection ; nor shall 
this proclamation affect or in any way impair any laws heretofore 
passe.i by Congress and duly approved by the President, or any 
proclamation or orders issued by him during the aforesaid insurrec- 
tion abolishing slavery, whether of person or property ; but, on the 
contrary, all such laws and proclamations heretofore made or issued 
are expressly saved and declared to be in full force and virtue. 
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 

seal of the United States to be affixed. 
" Done at the city of Washington this thirteenth day of June, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, 
and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 
" By the President: 

"William H. Seward, Secretary of State.' 1 '' 

On the 16th of June a deputation of colored men from 
Richmond, Va., called on the President to state, in accordance 
witli resolutions passed at a meeting in the former city, the 
grievances under which the colored people of Virginia were 
suffering, owing to the collision of civil and military au- 
thority. The address was quite lengthy, but was listened 
to throughout with great attention. At the conclusion the 



382 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

President called for one of the city papers, and read to 
them the dismissal of Mayo from office as Mayor of Rich- 
mond, and then said : 

" While you are in this state of transition, there are many things 
which we might prefer to be different — that we should like altered 
— that yet must be submitted to till they can be remedied. What- 
ever can be done, so far as I am concerned, will be done most choer- 
fully. I have no set speech to make to you. If my past has not 
been a sufficient guarantee of my future course on this subject, my 
professions now would be none. I will endorse this document ' a 
series of depositions to prove arrests by Mayo and provost guards,' 
to Major General Howard, and you can take it to him yourselves. 
AVhy did you not apply to General Halleck ? 

" To this one of the delegates answered that they had applied to 
General Patrick, but he had told them he was acting under orders, 
and did not wish to be dictated to. They had applied to Governor 
Pierpont and he had sent for Mayo and deposed him the next 
morning. 

" The President then remarked that Governor Pierpont was there 
without any law to guide him, and he should adapt himself to the 
necessities of the occasion." 

On the same day the President sent the following reply to 

an address from the Congregational Council at Boston : 

" Washington, June 19. 
"To Governor W. A. Buckingham, Jfodcrator of the National Council 
of Congregational Churches, Boston: 

" I received with profound thanks the dispatch of your council. 
In the arduous and embarrassing duties devolved upon me, I feel the 
need and co-operation and sympathy of the people, and of the assist- 
ance of the Great Ruler of the Universe. These duties I shall en- 
deavor to discharge honestly, and to the best of my judgment, with 
the conviction that the best interests of civil and religious liberty 
throughout the world will be preserved and promoted by the success 
and permanency of our country. Let us all labor to that end, and 
that mission, upon which the people have been sent among the na- 
tions of the world, will be accomplished. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON." 

June 17th President Johnson issued two proclamations 

furthering the work of reconstruction in the States of 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 383 

Georgia and Texas ; and on the 21st of June a similar in- 
strument for the benefit of the State of Alabama ; by these 
proclamations, which were of similar interest, scope and 
instructions as those issued in the cases of North Carolina 
and Mississippi, Hon. James Johnson of Georgia, Hon. An- 
drew J. Hamilton of Texas, and Hon. Lewis E. Parsons of 
Alabama, were appointed provisional Governors of their 
respective States. 

ALL TRADE RESTRICTIONS REMOVED. 
Proclamation of the President of the United States of America. 

" Whereas, it has been the desire of the general Government of the 
United States to restore unrestricted commercial intercourse between 
and in the several States as soon as the same could be safely done in 
view of resistance to the authority of the United States by combina- 
tions of armed insurgents ; and, whereas, that desire has been shown 
in my proclamations of the 29th of April, 1865, the 13th of June, 
1865 ; and whereas, it now seems expedient and proper to remove 
the restrictions upon internal, domestic and coastwise trade and 
commercial intercourse between and within the States and Territo- 
ries west of the Mississippi river : 

" Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President 
of the United States, do hereby declare that all restrictions upon 
internal, domestic and coastwise intercourse and trade, and upon the 
purchase and removal of products of States and parts of States and 
Territories heretofore declared in insurrection, lying west of the Mis- 
sissippi river (excepting only those relating to property heretofore 
purchased by the agents or captured by and surrendered to the forces 
of the United States, and to the transportation thereto or therein on 
private account of arms, ammunition, all articles from which ammu- 
nition is made, gray uniform and gray cloth), are annulled ; and I do 
hereby direct that they be forthwith removed, and also that tbe com- 
merce of such States and parts of States shall be conducted under 
the supervision of the regularly appointed officers of the customs, 
who shall receive any captured or abandoned property that may be 
turned over to them under the law by the military or naval forces of 
the United States and dispose of the same in accordance with the 
instructions on the subject issued by the Secretary of the Treasury. 
" In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 



384 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Done at the city of Washington, this 24th day of June, in the year 
of our Lord 1865, and of the independence of the United States 
the eighty-ninth. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 

" By the President: 

W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State ." 

On the evening of the 24th the -President gave audience 
to a delegation from the State of South Carolina, composed 
of Messrs. Judge Frost, Isaac E. Holmes, Geo. W. Williams, 
W. II. Gillet, J. A. Sternnieyer, Frederick Richards, Wm. 
Wlialcy, Jas. H. Taylor, R. H. Gill and Joseph A. Yates. 
The interview was of great interest and importance : 

" The President said that it was his intention to talk plainly, so 
there might be no misunderstanding. Therefore it were better they 
should look each other full in the face and not imitate the ancient 
augurs, who, when they met one another, could smile at their success 
in deceiving the people. He said if this Union was to be preserved 
it must be on the principle of fraternity, both the Northern and 
Southern States maintaining certain relations to the Government. A 
State cannot go out of the Union, and therefore, none of them having 
gone out, we must deal with the question of restoration, and not re- 
construction. He suspected that he was a better State rights man 
than some of those now present. 

"Mr. Holmes — You always so claimed to be. (Laughter.) 
" The President replied that he always thought that slavery could 
not be sustained outside of the Constitution of the United States, 
and that whenever the experiment was made it would be lost. 
Whether it could or could not, he was for the Union, and if slavery 
set itself up to control the Government, the Government must triumph 
and slavery perish. The institution of slavery made the issue, and 
we might as well meet it like wise and patriotic and honest men. 
All institutions must be subordinate to the Government, and slavery 
has given way. He could not if he would remand it to its former 
status. He knew that some whom he now addressed looked upon 
him as a great people's man and a radical. But, however unpleasant 
it might be to them, he had no hesitation in saying that before and 
after he entered public life he was opposed to monopolies and per- 
petuities and entails. For this he used to be denounced as a dema- 
gogue. We had a monopoly South in slaves. Though he had bought 
and held slaves, he had "never sold one. From Magna Charta we had 



OF ANDREW JOnXSOX. 3&5 

derived our idea of freedom of speech, liberty of the press and un- 
reasonable searches, and that private property should not be taken 
for public uses without just compensation. He had these notions 
fixed in his mind, and was therefore opposed to class legislation. 
Being providentially brought to his present condition, he intended 
to exert the power and influence of the Government so as to place in 
power the popular heart of this nation. He proceeded on the prin- 
ciple that the great masses are not the mushrooms about a stump, 
which wet weather supplies. He believed that this nation was sent 
on a great mission — to afford an example of freedom and substantial 
happiness to all the Powers of the earth. The Constitution of the 
United States, in speaking of persons to be chosen as Representatives 
in Congress, says that the electors in each State shall have the quali- 
fications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the 
State Legislature. Here we find a resting place. This was the point 
at which the rebellion commenced. All the States were in the Union, 
moving in harmony ; but a portion of them rebelled, and to some 
extent suspended and paralyzed the operations of their governments. 
There is a constitutional obligation resting upon the United States 
Government to put down rebellion, suppress insurrection and to repel 
invasion. The slaves went into the war as slaves, and came out free 
men of color. The friction of the rebellion has rubbed out the nature 
and character of slavery. The loyal men who were compelled to bow 
and submit to the rebellion should, now that the rebellion is ended, 
stand equal to loyal men everywhere. Hence the wish of restoration 
and the trying to get back the States to the point at which they 
formerly moved in jserfect harmony. He did not intend to serve any 
particular clique or interest. He would say to the delegation that 
slavery is gone as an institution. There was no hope that the people 
of South Carolina could be admitted into the Senate or the House of 
Representatives until they had afforded evidence by their conduct 
of this truth. The policy, now that the rebellion is suppressed, is 
not to restore the State government through military rule, but by the 
people. While the war has emancipated slaves, it has emancipated 
a larger number of white men. He would talk plain, as the delega- 
tion had said that was what they desired. He could go to men who 
had owned fifty or a hundred slaves, and who did not care as much 
for the poor white man as they did for the negro. Those who own 
the land have the capital to employ help, and therefore some of our 
Northern friends are deceived when they, living afar oft", think they 
can exercise a greater control over the freedmen than the Southern 
men who have been reared where the institution has prevailed. 
Now he did not want the late slaveholders to control the negro votes 
25 



3SG LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

against white men. Let each State judge of the depository of its own 
political power. He was for emancipation. He was for emanci- 
pating the white man as well as the black. 

"Mr. Holiies asked — Is not that altogether accomplished ? 

"The President replied that he did not think the question fully 
settled. The question as to whether the black man shall 1)3 engrafted 
in the Constitution will be settled as we go along. He would not 
disguise the fact that while he had been persecuted and denou 
at the South as a traitor, he loved the great mass of the Southern 
people. He opposed the rebellion at its breaking out, and fought it 
everywhere, and now wanted the principles oi' the Government car- 
ried out and maintained. 

" Mr. Holmes interrupted by saying : "We want to get back to the 
same position as you describe, as we are without law, no courts are 
open, and you have the power to assist us. 

" The President replied that the Government cannot go on unless 
it is based on right. The people of South Carolina must have a con- 
vention, and amend their Constitution by abolishing slavery, and 
this must be done in good faith, and the convention or Legislature 
must adopt the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States which prohibits and excludes slavery everywhere. 

" One of the delegates said, ' We are most anxious for civil rule, 
for we have had more than enough of military despotism.' 

The President, resuming, said that as the Executive he could 
only take the initiatory steps to enable them to do the things which 
it was incumbent upon them to perform. 

" Another of the delegates remarked that it was assumed in some 
parts of this country that in consequence of the rebellion the 
Southern States had forfeited their rights as members of the con- 
federacy, and that if restored it could only be on certain conditions, 
one of which was that slavery shall be abolished. This could be 
done only through a convention. 

" The President repeated that the friction of the rebellion had 
rubbed slavery out, but it would be better so to declare by law. As 
one of the delegates had just remarked that the constitution of South 
Carolina did not establish slavery, it were better to insert a clause 
antagonistic to slavery. 

" Judge Frost said, substantially : The object of our prayer is 
the appointment of a Governor. The State of South Carolina will 
accept these conditions in order that law and order may le restored, 
and that enterprise and industry may be directed to useful ends. 



OF AKDRE W JOIIXSOX. G 8 7 

We desire restoration as soon as possible. It is the part of wisdom 
to make the best of circumstances. Certain delusions have 1 
dispelled by the Revolution ; among them, that slavery is an element 
of political strength and moral power. It is very certain that the 
old notion respecting St tte rights, in the maintenance of which those 
who made the rebellion in South Carolina erred, has ceased to 
Another delusion, viz., that cotton is king, has likewise vanished in 
mist. We are to come back with these notions dispelled and a> 
a new system of labor. The people of South Carolina will cordially 
co-operate with the Government in making that labor effective and 
elevating the negro as much as they can. It is, however, more a 
work of time than the labor of enthusiasm and fanaticism. The 
people of the South have the largest interest in the question. We 
are willing to co-operate for selfish, if for no higher motives. 
have taken the liberty, encouraged by your kindness, to throw out 
suggestions by which the policy of the Government will be most 
surely and effectually subserved. I repeat that the new system of 
labor is to be inaugurated by sober, sound and discreet judgment. 
The negroes are ignorant. Their minds are much inflamed with 
liberty. They are apt to confound liberty with license. There 
great idea is, I fear, that freedom consists of exemption from work. 
We will take in good faith and carry out your intentions with zeal, 
and hope for the best ; and none will rejoice more than the people 
of the South if emancipation proves successful. Freedom to the 
slave is freedom to the master, provided you can supply a motive 
for industry. The people of South Carolina, from their fidelity to 
honor, have submitted to great sacrifices ; they endured all. We are 
defeated and conquered by the North, who are too strong tor us. 
The same good faith which animated them in the contest will not 
be found wanting in their pledge of loyal support to the Govern- 
ment. There may grow out of this blessings which you have not 
foreseen, and some pleasing ray3 now illumine the horizon. I sup- 
pose the oath of allegiance will be taken with as much unanimity 
in South Carolina as anywhere else, and we will submit to the con- 
dition of things which Providenee has assigned, and endeavor to 
believe 

'All discords harmony not understood, 
And partial evil universal good.' 

We cheerfully accept the measures recommended, and would thank 
you to nominate, at your convenience, a Governor to cany out the 
wishes you have expressed. 



388 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" President Johnson asked the delegation to submit whom they 
would prefer to have as Provisional Governor. 

" To this they replied they had a list of five men. viz. : Aiken, 
McClahany, Boyce, Colonel Manning, late Governor, and B. F. Perry. 
All of them were spoken of as good men, but who had been more 
or less involved in the rebellion. Mr. Perry was a District Judge in 
the Confederacy until a few weeks before it collapsed, and is said to 
have always been a good Union man and a gentleman of strict in- 
tegrity. The people certainly would respect him, and he could not 
fail to be acceptable. 

" The President said he knew Benjamin Perry well, having 
served with him in Congress. There was no spirit of vengeance or 
vindictiveness on the part of the Government, whose. only desire 
was to restore the relations which formerly existed. He was not 
now prepared to give them an answer as to whom he should appoint. 
But at the Cabinet meeting next Tuesday he would repeat the sub- 
stance of this interview, with a hope to the restoration which the 
gentlemen present earnestly desired. 

" The delegates seemed to be much pleased with the proceedings, 
and lingered for some time to individually converse with the 
President." 

Owing to the ill-liealth of President Johnson, who was 
overpowered b) r overwork, this Cabinet meeting was not 
held. The usual reception of visitors had also, by the advice 
of his physician, to be dispensed with, and the rush of office- 
seekers and political soothsayers kept back several days. 
On the 1st of July, however, the President appointed Hon. 
Benjamin P. Perry provisional Governor of South Carolina, 
by a proclamation similar to the others ; and on the 3d he 
sent the following characteristic epistle, regretting that he 
could not participate in the celebration of the Fourth, and 
in the ceremonies of laying the corner-stone of the soldier's 
monument on the battle-field of Gettysburg : 

" Washington, July 3, 1865. 
" D. Willis, Chairman of Committee of Arrangements, Gettysburg 
Monument Association. 

" Dear Sir, — I had promised myself the pleasure of participating 
in person in the proceedings of to-morrow. That pleasure I am, by 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 389 

indisposition, reluctantly compelled to forego. I should have been 
pleased, standing on that twice consecrated spot, to share with you 
your joy at the return of peace; to greet with you the surviving he- 
roes of the war, who come back with light hearts, though heavily 
laden with honors, and with you to drop grateful tears to the mem- 
ory of those that will never return. Unable to do so in person, I can 
only send you my greetings, and assure you of my full sympathy 
with the purpose and spirit of your exercise to-morrow. Of all the 
anniversaries of the Declaration of Independence, none has been 
more important and significant than that upon which you assemble. 
Four years of struggle for our nation's life have been crowned with 
success; armed treason is swept from the land; our ports are re- 
opened; our relations with other nations are of the most satisfactory 
character ; our internal commerce is free ; our soldiers and sailors 
resume the peaceful pursuits of civil life ; our flag floats on every 
breeze, and the only barrier to our national progress — human slavery 
— is forever at an end. Let us trust that each recurring Fourth of 
July shall find our nation stronger in number, stronger in wealth, 
stronger in the harmony of the citizens, stronger in its devotion to 
nationality and freedom. As I have often said, I believe that God 
sent this people on a mission among the nations of the earth, and 
that when he founded our nation, he founded it in perpetuity. That 
faith sustained me through the struggle that is passed — it sustains 
me now that new duties are devolved upon me and new dangers 
threaten us. I feel that whatever the means He uses, the Almighty 
is determined to preserve us as a people. And since I have seen the 
love our fellow-citizens bear their country, and the sacrifices they 
have made for it, my abiding strength has been stronger than ever 
that a government of the people is the strongest as well as the best 
of governments. In your joy to-morrow I trust you will not forget 
the thousands of whites as well as blacks whom the war has emanci- 
pated, who will hail this Fourth of July with a delight which no 
previous anniversary of the Declaration of Independence ever gave 
them. Controlled so long by ambitious, selfish leaders, who used 
them for their own unworthy ends, they are now free to serve and 
cherish the Government against whose life they in their blindness 
struck. 

" I am greatly mistaken if in the States lately in rebellion we do 
not henceforward have exhibitions of such loyalty and patriotism as 
were never seen or felt there before. "When you have consecrated a 
national cemetery you are to lay the corner-stone of a national monu- 
ment which in all human probability will rise to the full height and 
proportion of your design. Noble as this monument of stone may 



390 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

be, it will be be but a faint symbol of the monument which, if we do 
our duty, we shall raise among the nations of the earth upon the 
foundation laid nine-and-eighty years ago in Philadelphia. Time 
shall wear away and crumble this monument ; but that, based as it is 
upon the consent, virtue, patriotism and intelligence of the people, 
each year shall make firmer and more imposing. 
" Your friend and fellow-citizen, 

"ANDREW JOHNSON." 

On the 5th the President was so far improved as to be 
able to be out of bed for a portion of the day, though con- 
fined to his chamber. He approved the findings and sen- 
tence of the military commission in the cases of the assassin- 
ation conspiracy, by which David E. Han-old, Lewis Payne, 
Mary E. Surratt and George A. Atzeroth were hung on the 
7th ; Dr. Mudd, Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlin 
imprisoned for life : and Edward Spangler sentenced to six 
years' imprisonment at hard labor. 

On the 8th July, President Johnson was wailed on by 
James A. Jones, R. A. Lancaster, William H. Haxall and 
J. L. Apperson, representatives of merchants and others of 
Virginia, who wished him to amend the amnesty proclama- 
tion by striking out the thirteenth exception — the twenty 
thousand dollar clause. They represented that this feature 
interfered with the development of industry by binding up 
capital, and in this way oppressed the poor, and that when 
they endeavored to borrow money in the Northern or Middle 
States they were at once met with the objection that perhaps 
they had over twenty thousand dollars, and, if they had, the 
accommodation could riot be extended, so that they were 
unable to give work to the poor men who called upon them. 

The President reminded them that the amnesty procla- 
mation did not cause this distrust ; it w r as the commission 
of treason and the violation of law that did it. The am- 
nesty proclamation left these men just where they were 
before — it did not add any disability to them. If they had 
committed treason they were amenable to the confiscation 



OF ANDREW JOHXSON. 391 

law which Congress had passed, and which he, as President, 
could not alter nor amend. In the amnesty proclamation he 
had offered pardon to some persons, but that did not injure 
any other persons. Would they like to have the amnesty 
proclamation removed ? Would they feel any easier in that 
case? 

"A Delegate— No; but it would assist us very much if you 
would extend the benefits of the proclamation to persons worth over 
twenty thousand dollars. 

" The President replied, that in making that exception, he had 
acted on the natural supposition that men had aided the rebellion 
according to the extent of their pecuniary means. Did they not 
know this ? 

" A Delegate — No, I did not know it. 

" The President — Why, yes, you do. You know perfectly well 
it waa the wealthy men of the South who dragooned the people into 
secession. I lived in the South, and I know how the thing was 
done. Your State was overwhelmingly opposed to secession; but 
your rich men used the press and bullies, and your little army, to 
force the State into secession. Take the twenty thousand dollar 
clause. Suppose a man is worth more than that now the war is 
over, and the chances are ten to one that he made it out of the rebel- 
lion by contracts, etc. We might as well talk plainly about this 
matter. I don't think you are so very anxious about relieving the 
poor. You want this clause removed so as to be able to make money, 
don't you ? If you are very eager to help the poor, why don't you 
take the surplus over the twenty thousand dollars you own, and give 
it to them ? In that way you will help them, and bring yourselves 
within the benefits of the proclamation. I am free to say to you 
that I think some of you ought to be taxed on all over twenty thou- 
sand dollars to help the poor. When I was Military Governor of 
Tennessee I assessed such taxes on those who had been wealthy 
leaders of the rebellion, and it had a good effect. 

"A Delegate — It so happens that none of us were leaders. We 
stayed out as long as we could, and were the last to go in. 

"The President — Frecpiently those who went in last were among 
the worst after they got in. But, be that as it may, understand me, 
gentlemen, I do not say this personally; I am just speaking of the 
general working of the matter. I know there has been an effort 
among some to persuade the people that the amnesty proclamation 



392 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

was injuring them by shutting up capital and keeping work from 
the poor. It does no such thing. If that is done at all, it is done 
in consequence of the violation of law and the commission of treason. 
The President concluded by saying that he would look at the papers 
they presented, but, so far, had seen no reason for removing the thir- 
teenth exception." 

Early in July a movement was made by some citizens of 
Florida for assistance in the reconstruction of that State. 
A delegation — headed by Messrs. Brooks of Appalachicola, 
and Hopkins of Tallahassee — proceeded to Washington, 
and, on the 13th of that month, the President appointed, by 
the usual proclamation, Hon. William Marvin, Provisional 
Governor of the State of Florida. 

On the 19th, a South Carolina delegation, at the head of 
which was the newly-appointed Provisional Governor Perry, 
had an interview with the President. The delegation was 
the result of various town meetings held in South Carolina, 
at which the members were selected. They were on their 
way to Washington before the news of Governor Perry's 
appointment had been received. Governor Perry subse- 
quently- gave the following account of the interview and 
the hopes of reconstruction based upon it : 

" We were received very cordially, and remained an hour or two 
with the President. I told him that the people of South Carolina 
accepted the terms of his proclamation, and were disposed to return 
to their allegiance to the Union. That from having been the most 
rebellious State in the South, I was satisfied South Carolina would, 
henceforth, be one of the most loyal of the Southern States. That 
she would reform her constitution and abolish slavery, give the 
election of Governor and Presidential Electors to the people, and 
equalize the representation of the State. I gave it as my opinion 
that the disunion feeling of the South had originated in the parishes. 

" The President expressed himself gratified at the course South 
Carolina was likely to pursue, and instead of manifesting any bitter 
or revengeful spirit, he evinced great kindness, solicitude and mag- 

* At Greenville, S. C, August 1. 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 393 

nanimity. The whole delegation was deeply impressed with the 
courtesy, dignity and ability of his Excellency. His political views 
expressed to us were those of a patriot and a statesman. He wished 
to see the country once more quiet, peaceable, happy and prosperous. 
In regard to the relative powers of the State and the Federal Gov- 
ernment, his opinions were identical with my own, so long expressed 
in South Carolina. He was equally opposed to the centralization 
and consolidation of powers in Congress as he was to the secession 
of the States. It must be left to the Legislature of each State to 
decide who shall be allowed to vote in the State. Any attempt on 
the part of Congress to control the elective franchise of a State 
would be unwarrantable usurpation. He expressed an ardent wish 
to see the constitution of South Carolina popularized by abolishing 
the parish representation, and equalizing the political power cf the 
upper and lower country, giving the election of Governor to the 
people, and also the election of electors of President and Vice-Pre- 
sident. 



" The last interview I had with the President, he requested me 
to write him, and keep him informed as to any difficulty which I 
might meet with in organizing a provisional government. I said to 
him, ' I have already, Mr. President, organized a provisional gov- 
ernment for South Carolina, by adopting the State Government. I 
have issued my proclamation, ordering all civil officers in South 
Carolina to take the oath of allegiance, and resume their official 
duties.' ' Well,' said he, ' you are a most expeditious Governor.' I 
replied by saying that my appointment came late, and I thought it 
necessary to work rapidly. I further said to him that I would have 
the State ready, with the constitution reformed and her members of 
Congress elected by the first Monday in December, when Congress 
convened. 

" In conclusion, let me say to you, fellow-citizens, that I am well 
pleased with all that I saw and heard at Washington in reference to 
the Southern States. Let us now do our duty, take the oath of 
allegiance, elect good and wise men to the convention, reform our 
State Constitution, abolish slavery, equalize the representation of the 
State in the Senate, give the election of Governor and Presidential 
electors to the people, and all will be well. Immediately after the 
convention has reformed the constitution, the Legislature will be 
convened to elect United States Senators, and provide for the elec- 
tion of members of the House of Representatives in Congress. This 
may all be clone by the first Monday in December next, when the 

17* 



394 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

State will be fully restored to all her rights under the constitution 
and laws of the United States." 

On the 20th of July the President sent the following dis- 
patch to Governor Brownlow of Tennessee : 

"Washington, July 20, 1865. 

" To Hon. W. G. Brownlow, — I hope and have no doubt you 
will see that the recent amendment to the Constitution of the State, 
as adoj^ted by the people, and all laws passed by the Legislature in 
pursuance thereof, are faithfully and fairly executed, and that all 
illegal voters in the approaching election be excluded from the polls, 
and the election for members of Congress be legally and faithfully 
conducted ; and when and wherever it may seem necessary to employ 
force for the execution of the laws and the protection of the ballot- 
box from violence and fraud, you are authorized to call upon Major- 
General Thomas for sufficient military force to sustain the civil 
authorities of the State. 

" I have received your recent address to the people, and I think it 
well-timed, and hope it will do much good in reconciling the oppo- 
sition to the amendment of the Constitution and the laws passed 
by the last Legislature. The law must be executed and the civil 
authority sustained. In your efforts to do this, if necessary, General 
Thomas will afford sufficient military force. You are at liberty to 
make what use you think proper of this dispatch. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON, President U- S» 

The President continued to apply himself with unwearied 
devotion to the exciting duties of his office until again borne 
down by attacks of a bilious nature, which have visited him 
for years. He relieved himself by a brief excursion down 
the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay. His health was suffici- 
ently restored to hold a prolonged Cabinet meeting on the 
8th August. 

The trial and execution of the accomplices of Booth, the 
assassin, having been made the subject of partisan comment, 
the President submitted the question to the law adviser of 
the Government. 

Attorney-General Speed in response to an inquiry whe- 
ther the persons charged with the offence of having assassi- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 395 

nated tho late President should be tried before a military 
tribunal or a civil court, gave a written opinion sustaining 
the former mode of trial. This opinion has been printed. 
It maintains that a military tribune exists under and ac- 
cording to the Constitution in time of war ; that the law 
of nations constitutes a part of the law of the land ; and 
that the laws of war constitute tho greater part of the law 
of nations. The laws of war authorize human life to be 
taken without legal process, or that legal process contem- 
plated by those provisions in the Constitution that are relied 
upon to show that military judicial tribunals are unconsti- 
tutional. Tho law of nations, which is tho result of the 
experience and wisdom of ages, has decided that "jay- 
hawkers." banditti, etc., are offenders against the law of 
nations and of war, and, as such, amenable to the military. 
Our Constitution has made those laws a part of the law of 
the land. Obedience to the Constitution and the law, then, 
requires that the military should do their whole duty. They 
must not only meet and fight the enemies of the country in 
open battle, but they must kill or take the secret enemies of 
the country, and try and execute them according to the law. 
The civil tribunals of the country cannot rightfully interfere 
with the military in the performance of their high, arduous 
and perilous, but lawful duties. The Attorney- General 
characterizes Booth and his associates as secret active public 
enemies ; and he concludes with the opinion that " the per- 
sons who are charged with the assassination of the Presi- 
dent committed the deed as public enemies, and whether 
they did or not is a question to be decided by the tribunal 
before which they are tried. They not only can but ought 
to be tried before a military tribunal. If the persons 
charged have offended against the laws of war, it would be 
palpably wrong for the military to hand them over to the 
civil courts, as it would be wrong in a civil court to convict 
a man of murder who had in time of war killed another in 
battle." 



396 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The Homestead Law is of such extended importance, and 
the subject is so prominently discussed in this volume, that 
the latest decision touching its provision naturally seeks 
admission into these pages. On the 9th August the Secre- 
tary of the Interior, Mr. Harlan, made an important decision 
respecting the even or reserved sections along the line of 
the Union Pacific Railroad under grants by Acts of Con- 
gress, 1st July, 18G2, also 2d July, 1864. In the case of a 
homestead entry at Junction City, Kansas, on one of the 
reserved or alternate sections, above referred to, question 
has been raised as to rate per acre at which said reserved 
sections shall be held. The Homestead Law allows one hun- 
dred and sixty acres to each settler, of one dollar and 
twenty-five cents per acre, or eighty acres of two dollars 
and fifty cents per acre. The Homestead party in this case 
applied to take one hundred and sixty acres of reserved 
sections in question. The Commissioner-General of the 
Land Office rejected the application upon the ground that 
tracts not being subject to pre-emption at a sum less than 
two dollars and fifty cents per acre, exceeded the number 
of acres that one party could acquire under the Homestead 
Act of the 20th of May, 1SG2. The Secretary, after an 
examination of the whole matter, affirmed the judgment of 
the General Land Office, deciding as follows : " The act 
entitled, An Act to extend pre-emption rights to certain 
lands therein mentioned, approved March 3, 1853, provides 
that the pre-emption laws of the United States, as they now 
exist, be and they are hereby extended over alternate re- 
served sections of public lands along the lines of all rail- 
roads in the United States, wherever public lands have 
been or may be granted by Act of Congress. The even 
sections along the line of the Pacific Railroad must be 
treated as reserved sections, within the meaning of this act. 
Being treated as subject to pre-emption, the question arises 
at what price may they be purchased. The proviso in the 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 397 

above act declares that the price to be paid shall, in all 
cases be two dollars and fifty cents per acre, or such other 
minimum price as is now fixed by law or may be fixed upon 
lands hereafter granted. The price of reserved sections i3 
to be two dollars and fifty cents per acre, unless changed 
by a price fixed, or to be fixed, by law, on granted sections. 
In this case, Congress has not fixed any price on granted 
sections until three years after the completion of the entire 
road ; it consequently follows, that the price named, two 
dollars and fifty cents per acre, must now be paid for re- 
served sections under existing legislation." 

The President steadily pursues his course of policy, ignor- 
ing party lines and only keeping in view the best means to 
serve the interests of the whole country in the best manner. 
The efforts of extremists to thwart his plans, or divert the 
appliances by which they are to be carried out, affect him 
not ; and the only appointments of importance made by him 
thus far — that of ex-United States Senator Preston King to 
the Collectorship and ex-Representative Moses F. Odell to 
the Naval Office at the port of New York, are regarded as 
welcome and additional evidence of the national sentiments 
which will guide his policy. 

His diligence to the affairs of State when not utterly 
borne down by attention to them, is a matter of as much 
anxious solicitude as of approval. The Executive Mansion 
has been crowded with deputations, advisers and petitioners 
for pardon. It having come to his knowledge that means 
were being taken to accomplish the latter by means of 
agents who received large fees for their services, the Presi- 
dent promptly directed the Attorney-General to issue no 
more warrants for pardon at present, desiring to examine 
the cases himself and do full justice to the parties. One of 
many scenes in which he was surrounded by persons solicit- 
ing pardon is thus described : 

" Some fifty persons were present, most of them seeking pardons. 



398 ' LIFE AND P UBLIC SER VICES 

A Mr. Keitt, of South Carolina (not Lawrence M., lie having been 
killed by a loyal bullet at Fort r), approached the President, 

and informed him that he desired a pardon. ' What have you done ?' 
asked Mr. Johnson. 'I opposed secession until my State deckled to 
go out of the Union, and then I determined to go with it. I never 
joined the army. I did nothing to bring on the rebellion,' was the 
reply. ' You,' rejoined the President, ' are like all the rest ; you did 
nothing. Now,' he added, ' my experience is, that the men who 
didn't join the rebel army, but who acquiesced in rebellion, were the 
mosl ' : :jiis and dangerous men we had. I cannot pardon you, 

sir.' Mr. Keitt made several other efforts. Among other things he 
remi the President that he had come all the way from South 

Carolina and had been in Washington some time ; that hotel living 

■ ■ was very high, and that a er his daily exp 're ex- 

1 large, and that he would like to get away as soon as he 
co 1 . i The President responded that the hardships of which he 

complained were the direct of the rebellion : that he did not 

bring on, or contribute to bring on the rebellion ; that he was not 
responsible for and could not extricate Mr. Keitt from the difficulties 
he complained of, nor hasten his pardon on account of them. The 
President was firm. His answer was a finality. A Mr. Birch, mem- 
ber of the late rebel Legislature of Virginia, next approached the 
President and applied for a pardon. Similar questions were put to 
him by the President as were asked Mr. Keitt. From the answers it 
appeared that Birch did nothing, only, as a member of the Virginia 
Legislature, in obedience to instructions, he voted that Virginia 
should secede from the Union of the United States. That is all he 
did that was — 'nothing.' The President refused to pardon him. 
Next came a rebel clergyman who asked the President to grant him 
a pardon. ' What great sin have you committed that you come here 
in clerical robes and crave Executive j^ardon V 'I was a rebel,' was 
the answer, ' and I desire your Excellency to pardon me that I may 
be restored to citizenship and be able to support and live under the 
Government of the United States.' ' You rebel preachers,' responded 
the President, ' have done the Government a great deal of harm. 
You have proclaimed devilish doctrines and misled the people. You 
forgot that it was your duty to yield obedience to the powers that 
be. You must rest awhile upon the stool of repentance. I decline 
to grant you pardon at present.' 

"The President then remarked, addressing the entire crowd in the 
room, that it was a little singular that most of the non-combatants 
who had come here from the South for pardon assert that they did 
nothing, were opposed to the rebellion at the beginning, only acqui- 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 399 

esced, and thought the rebel government ought to hare surrendered 
earlier and stopped bloodshed ; yet not one of them took advantage 
of the amnesty proclamation oflered by Mr. Lincoln, an act which 
would have shown sincerity on their part, and contributed so much 
toward saving the enormous expenditure of life and treasure. ' I will 
grant do more pardons for the present,' was the emphatic conclusion 
of the President, and turning to Colonel Browning, he directed him 
to issue the order to the Attorney-General." 

During the sitting of the Mississippi State Convention, 
Governor Sharkey communicated to it, 24th August, a tele- 
graphic dispatch received by him from President Johnson. 
The work of State restoration, so spiritedly entered into by 
Mississippi, was a source of great gratification to the Presi- 
dent, and his dispatch congratulated the members of the 
Convention on the progress they were making in paving the 
way to the readmission of the State of Mississippi into the 
Union, and expressed an earnest hope that all obstacles to 
such readmission would soon be removed. The dispatch 
further announced that the President would restore the writ 
of habeas corpus, and remove the troops from the State at 
the earliest moment that progressive loyalty of action would 
warrant. 

M. Maurice Delfosse, the new Minister Resident from 
Belgium was presented on the 25th August. On delivering 
his credentials he said it was his first duty, and he was happy 
to fulfil it, to assure the President of the constant friendship 
of the King, and to express the sincere wishes of his Majesty 
for his personal happiness and for the prosperity and well- 
being of the United States. As for himself, the Minister 
said, he should have no other object in endeavoring to de- 
serve the President's favorable regard than to maintain 
friendly relations between the government of Belgium and 
that of the United States, and to draw more closely the ties 
of friendship which happily exist between the two countries. 

To this the President replied : 



400 LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

" Mr. Delfosse, — I receive you with pleasure as the representative 
of his Majesty, the King of the Belgians, and I hope that you may 
find your residence here satisfactory and agreeable. Your sovereign 
has performed promptly many friendly offices for the United States, 
and he is therefore held in high respect and esteem among the Ameri- 
can people. Our best wishes are constantly given for not only the 
welfare of your enlightened country, but for the health and happi- 
ness of the King." 

By the following proclamation the President removed all 
remaining restrictions on articles announced as contraband 
of war in trade with the Southern States : 

FREEDOM OF TRADE. 

Proclamation by the President of the United States of America. 

" Wliereas, by my proclamations of the 13th and 24th of June, 18G5, 
removing restrictions in part upon internal, domestic and coastwise 
intercourse and trade, with the States recently declared in insurrec- 
tion, certain articles were exempted from the effect of said proclama- 
tions as contraband of war ; and whereas the necessity for restricting 
trade in said articles has now, in a great measure, ceased, it is hereby 
ordered that on and after the first day of September, 1865, all restric- 
tions aforesaid be removed, so that the articles declared by the said 
proclamations to be contraband of war may be imported into and 
sold in said States, subject only to such regulations as the Secretary 
of the Treasury may prescribe. 

*' In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the 

seal of the United States to be affixed. 
" Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-ninth day of August, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
five, and of the Independence of the United States of America 
the nintieth. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 
"By the President: 

"William II. Sewaed, Secretary of State. 1 '' 

While this work was passing through the press additional 
indications of the President's Restoration policy were mani- 
fested by his action towards the State of Mississippi, and his 
remarks to a delegation representing nine Southern States. 



OF ANDRE W JOIIXSOX. 401 

On the 19th August Governor Sharkey issued a proclama- 
tion calling on the people of Mississippi to organize under 
the militia laws of the State, in each county, a force for the 
prevention and detection of crime and the arrest of crimi- 
nals. Major-General Slocum, department commander, issued 
an order preventing the execution of the Governor's inten- 
tion. Hon. Carl Schurz, a Government commissioner, on a 
tour of inspection, sent a dispatch to the President express- 
ing fears of the propriety of Governor Sharkey's course, and 
deprecating any action by the President adverse to the order 
issued by Major-General Slocum. The President, under date 
of August 30, telegraphed Mr. Schurz as follows : 

" I presume General Slocum will not issue an order interfering with 
Governor Sharkey's efforts to restore the functions of the State with- 
out first consulting the Government and giving reasons for such pro- 
posed interference. It is believed that there can be organized in each 
county a force of citizens or militia to suppress crime, restore order, 
and enforce the civil authority of the State and of the United States, 
which would enable the Federal Government to reduce the army and 
withdraw to a great extent the forces from the States and reduce the 
enormous expenses of the Government. If there were any danger 
from the organization of the citizens for the purpose indicated, the 
military arc there to suppress on the first appearance of any move- 
ment insurrectionary in its character. One great object is to induce 
the people to come forward in the defense of the State and Federal 
Governments. General "Washington declared that the people or the 
militia were the army of the Constitution or the army of the United 
States ; and as soon as it is practicable the original design of the 
Government should be resumed under the principles of the great 
charter of freedom handed down to the people by the foundation of 
the Republic. The people must be trusted with their Government ; 
and, if trusted, my opinion is that they will act in good faith and 
restore their former constitutional relations with all the States com- 
posing the Union. The main object of Major-General Carl Schurz' 
mission to the South was to aid, as much as practicable, in carrying 
out the policy adopted by the Government for restoring the States 
to their former relations with the Federal Government. It is hoped 
such aid has been given. The proclamation authorizing the restora- 
tion of the State government, requires the military to aid the Provi- 
26 " 



402 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

sional Governor in the performance of his duties, as prescribed in 
the proclamation, and in no manner to interfere or throw impedi- 
ments in the way of the consummation of the object of his appoint- 
ment, at least, without advising the Government of the intended 

interference. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON, 

President of the United States." 

By direction of the President a copy of this was given to 
Governor Sharkey, who earnestly requested permission to 
publish it. To this request the President replied by tele- 
graph : " My dispatch was not intended for publication ; but 
you can make such use of it as you deem best." The same 
day the following dispatch was sent to General Slocum : 

" "War Department, Washington, D. C., ) 

September 2, 1865. \ 

"Major-General Slocum, etc., etc., — Upon the 19th of August, 
Governor Sharkey issued a proclamation calling for the formation 
of military companies in each county, to detect criminals, prevent 
crime and preserve good order in places where the military forces of 
the United States were insufficient to do so. If you have issued any 
order countermanding this proclamation, or interfering with its exe- 
cution, you will at once revoke it. Acknowledge the receipt of this 
order, and telegraph your action. 
" By order of the President of the United States. 

" T. T. ECKERT, Acting Assist. Sec. of War." 

On the 11th September a meeting of Southerners, the 
most prominent of whom were in the city on business con- 
nected with the re-establishment of civil government in their 
respective States, assembled in Washington. Desiring to 
address the President on behalf of the South, and to express 
to him their unqualified confidence in the justice and mag- 
nanimity of the Government in the matter of restoration, 
they were admitted to an interview about noon. Presenting 
his associates, Mr. McFarland of Virginia made the follow- 
ing remarks : 

Mr. President, — The gentlemen accompanying me, and whom I 
have the honor of introducing to you, constitute a number of the 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 403 

most respectable citizens of nine of the Southern States. They come, 
sir, for the purpose of manifesting the sincere respect and regard they 
entertain for you, and to express their sincere determination to co- 
operate with you in whatever shall tend to promote the interests and 
welfare of our common country, and to say that they are as earnest 
now and faithful to their allegiance to the United States, and to the 
Constitution of the Union, as in the past, and that they have great 
confidence in your wisdom to heal the wounds that have been made, 
and in your disposition to exercise all the leniency which can be 
commended by a sound and judicious policy. That they are assured, 
in doing this, of your desire and intention to sustain and maintain 
Southern rights in the Union of the United States. 

The President was surprised at the imposing appearance 
of the delegation, and was evidently much affected in reply. 
Every gesture and utterance was full of subdued eloquence. 
His reply was as follows : 

Gentlemen, — I can only say in reply to the remarks of your chair- 
man that I am highly gratified to receive the assurances he has 
given me. They are more than I could have expected under the 
circumstances. I must say I was unprepared to receive so numerous 
a delegation on this occasion ; it was unexpected. I had no idea it 
was to be so large, or represent so many States, when I expressed, as 
I did, my willingness to see at any time so many of you as chose to 
do me the honor to call upon me, and stated that I should be grati- 
fied at receiving any manifestations of regard you might think proper 
to make. I was totally unprepared for anything equal to the present 
demonstration. I am free to say it excites in my mind feelings and 
emotions that language is totally inadequate to express. When I 
look back upon my past actions, and recall a period scarcely more 
than four short years ago, when I stood battling for principles which 
many of you supposed and thought were wrong, I was battling for 
the same principles that actuate me to-day, °.nd which principles I 
thank my God you have come forward on this occasion to manifest 
a disposition to support. I can say now, as I have said on many 
former occasions, that I entertain no personal resentments, enmities 
or animosities to any living soul south of Mason and Dixon's line, 
however much he may have differed from me in principle. The 
stand L»thcn took I claim to have been the only true one. I remem- 
ber how I stood pleading with my Southern brethren, when they 
stood with their hats in their hands ready to turn their backs upon 



404 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the United States — how I implored them to stand with me there ami 
maintain our rights and fight our battles under the laws and Consti- 
tution of the United States. I think now as I thought then, and 
endeavored to induce them to believe, that our true position was 
under the law and under the Constitution of the Union with the 
institution of slavery in it ; but if that principle made an issue that 
rendered a disintegration possible — if that made an issue which 
should prevent us from transmitting to our children a country an 
bequeathed to us by our fathers, I had nothing else to do but stand 
by the Government, be the consequences what they might. I said 
then what you all know, that I was for the institutions of the country 
as guaranteed by the Constitution, but above all things I was for 
the Union of the States. I remember the taunts, the jeers,the scowls 
with which I was treated ; I remember the circle that stood around 
me, and remember the threats and intimidations that were freely 
uttered by the men who opposed me and whom I wanted to befriend 
and guide by the light that led me ; but feeling conscious in my 
own integrity and that I was right, I heeded not what they might 
say or do to me, and was inspired and encouraged to do my duty, 
regardless of aught else, and have lived to see the realization of my 
predictions and the fatal error of those whom I vainly essayed to 
save from the results I could not but foresee. Gentlemen, we have 
passed through this rebellion. I say we, for we are responsible for 
it. Yes, the south made the issue, and I know the nature of the 
Southern people well enough to know that when they have become 
convinced of an error they frankly acknowledge it in a manly, open, 
direct manner ; and now in the performance of that duty, or indeed 
in any act they undertake to perform, they do it heartily and frankly ; 
and now that they come to me, I understand them as saying that 
" we made the issue ; we set up the Union of the States against the 
institution of slavery ; we selected as arbitrator the God of Battles ; 
the arbitrament was the sword. The issue was fairly and honorably 
met. Beth the questions presented have been settled against us, and 
we are prepared to accept the issue." I find on all sides this spirit 
of candor and honor prevailing. It is said by all : " The issue was 
ours, the judgment has been against us, and the decision having been 
made against us we feel bound in honor to abide by the arbitrament. 
In doing this we are doing ourselves no dishonor, and should not 
feel humiliated or degraded but rather that we are ennobling our- 
selves by our action, and we should feel that the government has 
treated us magnanimously, and meet the government upon the terms 
it has so magnanimously proffered us." So far as I am concerned per- 
sonally, I am uninfluenced by any question, whether it affects the 



OF A XDIiE W JOHNS OX. 405 

North or the South, the East or the "West. I stand where I did of 
old, battling for the Constitution and the Union of these United 
States. In doing so, I know I opposed some of you gentlemen of 
the South, when the doctrine of secession was being urged upon the 
country, and the declaration of your right to break up the govern- 
ment and disintegrate the Union was made. I stand to-day as I have 
ever stood, firmly in the opinion that if a monopoly contends against 
this country, the monopoly must go down and the country must go 
up. Yes, the issue was made by the South against the government 
and the government has triumphed ; and the South, true to her an- 
cient instincts of frankness and manly honor, comes forth and expresses 
her willingness to abide the result of the decision in good faith. 
"While I think that the rebellion has been arrested and subdued, and 
am happy in the consciousness of a duty well performed, I want not 
only you, but the people of the world, to know that while I dreaded 
and feared disintegration of the States, I am equally opposed to con- 
solidation or concentration of power here, under whatever guise or 
name ; and if the issue is forced upon us, I shall still endeavor to 
pursue the same efforts to dissuade from this doctrine of running to 
extremes ; but I say let the same rules be applied. Let the Constitu- 
tion be our guide. Let the preservation of that and the Union of 
States be our principal aim. Let it be our hope that the government 
may be perpetual, and that the principles of the government, founded 
as they are on right and justice, may be handed down without spot 
or blemish to our posterity. As I have before remarked to you, I am 
gratified to see so many of you here to-day. It manifests a spirit I 
am pleased to observe. I know it has been said of me that my as- 
perities are sharp ; that Iliad vindictive feelings to gratify, and that I 
should net fail to avail myself of the opportunities that would present 
themselves to gratify such despicable feelings. Gentlemen, if my 
acts will not speak for me and for themselves, then any professions I 
might now make would be equally useless. But, gentlemen, if I 
know myself, as I think I do, I know that I am of the Southern 
people, and I love them, and will do all in my power to restore them 
to that state of happiness and prosperity which they enjoyed before 
the madness of misguided men, in whom they had reposed their 
confidence, led them astray to their own undoing. If there is any- 
thing that can be done on my part on correct principles, on the prin- 
ciples of the Constitution, to promote these ends, be assured it shall 
be done. Let me assure you, also, that there is no disposition on the 
part of the government to deal harshly with the Southern people. 
There may be speeches published from various quarters that may 
breathe a different spirit. Do not let them trouble or excite you, but 



40G LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

believe that it 5s, as it is, the great object of the government to make 
the union of these United States more complete and perfect than 
ever, and to maintain it on constitutional principles, if possible more 
firmly than it has ever before been. Then why cannot we all come 
up to the work in a proper spirit ? In other words : Let us look to 
the Constitution. The issue has been made, and decided. Then as 
wise men, as men who see right and are determined to follow it, as 
fathers and brothers, and as men who love their country in this hour 
of trial and suffering, why cannot we come up and help to settle the 
questions of the hour, and adjust them according to the principles 
of honor and of justice ? The institution of slavery is gone. /The 
former status of the negro had to be changed, and we, as wise men, 
must recognize so patent a fact and adapt ourselves to circumstances 
as they surround us. 

Voices : " We are willing to do so." " Yes, sir, we are willing 
to do so." 

I believe you are. I believe when your faith is pledged — when 
your consent has been given, as I have already said — I believe it will 
be maintained in good faith, and every pledge or promise fully 
earned out. 

Voices: "It will." 

All I ask or desire of the South or the North, the, East or the West, 
is to be sustained in carrying out the principles of the Constitution. 
It is not to be denied that we have been great sufferers on both sides. 
Good men have fallen on both sides, and much misery is being en- 
dured, as the neeessary result of so gigantic a contest. Why, then, 
cannot we come together, and around the common altar of our coun- 
try heal the wounds that have been made ? Deep wounds Lave been 
inflicted. Our country has been scarred all over. Then why cannot 
we approach each other upon principles which are right in them- 
selves, and which will be productive of good to all ? The day is not 
distant when we shall feel like some family that has had a deep and 
desperate feud, the various members of wdiich have come together 
and compared the evils and sufferings they have inflicted ujaon each 
other. They have seen the influence of their error and its result, and 
governed by a generous spirit of conciliation, they have become 
mutually forbearing and forgiving, and returned to their old habits 
of fraternal kindness, and become better friends than ever. Then let 
us consider that the feud which alienated us has been settled and 
adjusted to our mutual satisfaction ; and that we come together to 
be bound by firmer bonds of love, respect and confidence than ever. 
The North cannot get along without the South, nor the South with- 
out the North, the East without the West, nor the West without the 



OF ANDREW JOHNSON 40T 

East, and I say it is our duty to do all that in our power lies to 
peqjetuate and make stronger the bonds of our Union, seeing that it 
is for the common good of all that we should be united. I feel that 
this Union, though but the creation of a century, is to be perpetuated 
for all time, and that it cannot be destroyed, except by the all-wise 
God who created it. Gentlemen, I repeat, I sincerely thank you for 
the respect manifested on this occasion ; and for the expressions of 
approbation and confidence please to accept my sincere thanks. 

Mr. McFarland replied : 

Mr. President — On behalf of this delegation, I return you my sincere 
thanks for your kind, generous, aye, magnanimous expressions of 
kindly feeling to the people of the South. 

The visitors then retired. 

Among the numerous demonstrations of approval the Pre- 
sident's course has drawn forth, a mass meeting in Richmond 
inviting the President and Cabinet to visit that city, was 
not the least remarkable. Mr. Charles Palmer, one of the 
Committee appointed to carry out the intention of the meet- 
ing, has published a report of the mission from which, as bear- 
ing on the subject under illustration, we quote an extract : 

"The President spoke with much feeling in relation to 
the unhappy situation of Richmond and the condition of the 
South generally, which I think he will help as much as cir- 
cumstances will allow. Take him all in all, I do not believe 
any proud monarch of Europe, whose race of kings by divine 
right has flourished a thousand years of time, has a clearer 
conception of his duties and knows better how to temper 
justice with mercy than Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee. From 
my interview with the President I drew the most cheering 
auguries ; it impressed me with the conviction that the South 
will find in him a friend and protector, if she will come up to 
his requirements cheerfully, and accept with true hearts the 
terms of reconstruction offered. With one voice and one 
heart we will greet his coming to this old Commonwealth 
with joyous welcome." 

The unfolding of President Johnson's restoration policy, 
in his proclamations and replies to the Southern delegations 



40S LIFE OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

who have waited upon him, attracted, as might be expected, 
the almost undivided atteution of the country. It forms the 
staple comment in the public journals, and of conversation 
in private circles. By both he is almost universally sus- 
tained. In his knowledge of the South on the one hand, 
and the daring and brilliant record of his patriotism on the 
other, as well as on his expressed doctrine of non-interference 
with the constitutional rights and duties of the States en- 
gaged in reassuming their loyal status in the Republic, the 
great mass of the people find a solid basis on which to lay 
the foundation of future prosperity and glory. Facing the 
great work to which Providence has assigned him, he relies 
not upon the passions, prejudices and partisan feelings which 
to some extent may be pardonable in minds not purified by 
the great responsibilities which encircle him. Rising with 
the grandeur of the occasion, he desires to meet and guide 
it in the spirit of a true representative agent of a great 
People. The tolerated curse of slavery having been totally 
lifted from the soil, he desires, in a just democratic republi- 
can spirit to see the free Southern States, with cleansed con- 
stitutions, manage their internal affairs as the free Northern 
States do. 

All the seceding States are provided with civil Executives 
either elected or provisionally appointed ; and that portion 
of our country lately reeling in the maelstrom of insurrec- 
tion and civil war is now undergoing the wise influences of 
the American system ; preparing to enter upon a new and 
brighter path — to achieve a wider and grander destiny ; and 
to contribute to the prosperity, the honor and glory of a 
mighty and a Free Republic. 



APPENDIX. 



Reflt to Senator Lane, of Oregon; delivered m 
t'.ie Senate of the United States, March 2, 18G1. 

The 8< " ving under consideration tlie report of the Peace 

Conference, and Mr. Lane, of Oregon, having concluded his speech — 

. Johnson, of Tennessee, sai'l : 

Mr. President, — It is painful to me to be compelled to occupy any 
of the time of the Senate upon the subject that lias just been discus- 
sed by the Senator from Oregon. Had it not been for the extraor i- 
rmry speech he has made, and the singular course he has taken, I 
Bhould refrain from saying one "word at this late hour of the day and 
oft : >n. But, sir, it e apparent, not only to the Seni 

but to the whole country, that, either by accident or by design, there 
has been an arrangement that any one who appeared in this Senate 
to vindicate the Union of these States should be attacked. Why is 
it that no one in the Senate or out of it, who is in favor of the Union 
of ; made an attack-upon me ? V. it been left 

to 1 ho have taken both open and secret ground in violation 

of the Constitution, for t 1 ption of the Government?. Why 

has there been a concerted attack upon me from the n'ng of 

this discussion to the present moment, not even confined to the ordi- 
nary court ite and of senatorial decorum ? It i - a ques- 
tion which lifts itself above personalities. I care not from what 
direction the Senator comes who indulges in personalities towards 
me ; in that, I feel that I am above him, and that he is my inferior. 
[Ap in the galleries.] 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Polk in the chair) rapped with his 
mallet, and then said : The Chair will announce that if that disturb- 
ance is repeated in the galleries, they must be cleared. That is the 

(1) 



2 APPENDIX. 

order of tlie Senate for the purpose of conducting properly the delib- 
erations of the Senate. 

Mr. Doolittle : I hope the Chair will enforce the order, and not 
threaten to do so. When applause is given on the expression of 
Union sentiments, in which I fully concur, I desire that the order 
Bhall be enforced, and there can then be no exception taken if we 
enforce the rules when applause may be given for any other senti- 
ments uttered on this floor. 

Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee : Mr. President, I was alluding to the 
use of personalities. They are not arguments ; they are the resort of 
men whose minds are low and coarse. It is veiy easy to talk about 
" cowards ;" to chaw autobiographical sketches ; to recount the re- 
markable, the wonderful events and circumstances and exploits that 
we have performed. I have presented facts and authorities; and 
upon them I have argued ; from them I have drawn conclusions ; 
and why have they not been met ? Why have they not been an- 
swered ? Why abandon the great issues before the country, and go 
into personalities ? In this discussion I shall act upon the principle 
laid down in Cowper's conversation, where he says : 

"A moral, sensible, and well-bred man 
Will not affront me; and no other can." 

But there are men who talk about cowardice, cowards, courage, 
and all that kind of thing ; and in this connection, I will say, once 
for all, not boastingly, with no anger in my bosom, that these two 
eyes never looked upon any being in the shape of mortal man that 
this heart of mine feared. 

Sir, have we reached a point of time at which we dare not speak 
of treason ? Our forefathers talked about it ; they spoke of it in the 
Constitution of the country ; they have defined what treason is. Is 
it an offense, is it a crime, is it an insult to recite the Constitution 
that was made by Washing-ton and his compatriots ? What does the 
Constitution define treason to be ? 

" Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying 
war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid. 
and comfort." 

There it is defined clearly that treason shall consist only in levying 
war against the United States, and adhering to and giving aid and 
comfort to their enemies. Who is it that has been engaged in con- 
spiracies ? Who is it that has been engaged in making war upon the 
United States ? Who is it that has fired upon our flag ? Who is it 
that has given instructions to take your arsenals, to take your forts, 



APPENDIX. 3 

to take your dock-yards, to seize your custom-houses, and rob your 
treasuries ? Who is it that has been engaged in secret conclaves, and 
issuing orders for the seizure of public property in violation of the 
Constitution they were sworn to support ? In the language of the 
Constitution of the United States, are not those who have been en- 
gaged in this nefarious work guilty of treason ? I will now present 
a fair issue, and hope it will be fairly met. Show me who has been 
engaged in these conspiracies; show me who has been sitting in 
these nightly and secret conclaves plotting the overthrow of the Gov- 
ernment ; show me who has fired upon our flag, has given instruc- 
tions to take our forts and our custom-houses, our arsenals and our 
dock-yards, and I will show you a traitor ! [Applause in the gal- 
leries.] 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Polk in the chair) : The Sergeant- 
at-Arms will clear the galleries on the right of the Chair immediately. 

Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee : That is a fair proposition 

The Presiding Officer: The Senator from Tennessee will pause 
until the order of the Chair is executed. 

[Here a long debate ensued upon questions of order and the pro- 
priety of clearing the galleries.] 

Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee : I hope the execution of the order will 
be suspended, and I will go security for the gallery that they will not 
applaud any more. I should have been nearly through my remarks 
by this time but for this interruption. 

The Presiding Officer here announced that the order for clear- 
ing the galleries would be suspended. 

Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee : Mr. President, when I was interrupted 
by a motion to clear the galleries, I was making a general allusion to 
treason as defined in the Constitution of the United States, and to 
those who were traitors and guilty of treason within the scope and 
meaning of the law and the Constitution. My proposition was, that 
if they would show me who were guilty of the offenses I have enu- 
merated, I would show them who were the traitors. That being 
done, were I the President of the United States, I would do as 
Thomas Jefferson did in 1806 with Aaron Burr, who was charged 
with treason : I would have them arrested and tried for treason, and, 
if convicted, by the Eternal God they should suffer the penalty of 
the law at the hands of the executioner. Sir, treason must be pun- 
ished. Its enormity and the extent and depth of the offense must be 
made known. The time is not distant, if this Government is pre- 
served, its Constitution obeyed, and its laws executed in every de- 
partment, when something of this kind must be done. 

The Senator from Oregon, in his remarks, said that a mind that it 



4 APPENDIX. 

required six weeks to stuff could not know muck of anything. He 
intimated that I had been " stuffed." I made my speech on the 19th 
of December. The gentleman replied. I made another speech on 
the 5th and 6th of February. And now, after a lapse of about four 
weeks, and at the close of the session, when it is believed there will 
be no opportunity to respond on account of the great press of busi- 
ness which must necessarily be acted on, he makes a reply. How 
long has he been "stuffing?" By whom and how often has he been 
red?" [Laughter.] He has been stuffed twice; and if the 
stuffing operation was as severe and as laborious as the delivery has 
been, he has had a troublesome time of it ; for his travail has been 
great, the delivery remarkable and excruciatingly painful. [Laughter.] 

Again : he speaks of " triumphant ignorance and exulting stupid- 
ity." Repartee and satire are not limited to one. I have no dispo- 
sition, however, to indulge in coarse flings ; and, in fact, I think it is 
unsenatorial. Whatever may be the character of my mind, I have 
never obtrusively made it the subject of consideration. I may, never- 
theless, have exhibited now and then the " exulting stupidity and 
triumphant ignorance" of which the Senator has spoken. Great and 
magnanimous minds pity ignorance. The Senator from Oregon, rich 
in intellectual culture, with a mind comprehensive enough to retain 
the wisdom of ages, and an eloquence to charm a listening Senate, 
deplores mine ; but he should also be considerate enough to regard 
my humility. Unpretending in my ignorance, I am content to gaze 
at his lofty flights and glorious daring without aspiring to accom- 
pany him to regions for which my wings have not been plumed nor 
my eyes fitted. Gorgeously bright are those fair fields in which he 
revel?. To me, alas ! his heaven appears but as murky regions, dull, 
opaque, leaden. My pretension has been simply to do my duty to 
my State and to my country. 

The Senator has thought proper to refer to the action of my State ; 
r.nd I may be permitted to remark, that we in the South understand 
some things as well as they are understood in the North ; and when 
we find one who calls himself a northern man, who boasts of his po- 
sition there, making great professions of friendship, greater attach- 
ment to our institutions and our interests than we do ourselves, in 
some minds it may have a tendency to excite suspicion. The Sena- 
tor from Oregon is more southern than the South itself, lie has taken 
under his wing of protection the peculiar guardianship of the south- 
ern States, and his every utterance is upon " the equality of the 
States, their rights in the Union, or their independence out of it." 
I think Dr. Johnson advised that when a man comes to your house, 
and voluntarily makes great professions of his purity, his uprightness 



APPENDIX. 5 

of purpose, his exalted character, of being far above suspicion and 
imputation, if you have any silver-ware, hide it. When northern 
Senators and northern gentlemen make greater professions of devo- 
tion to our institutions than we do ourselves, our suspicions arc some- 
what excited. 

The Senator has alluded to the action of my State; ho has com- 
mented upon my devotion to the people; he has been reviewing my 
political history ; he has even commented upon the nature and char- 
acter of my mind ; and he has failed to discover anything extraor- 
dinary iu it. As to the character of my mind, as I before remarked, 
that is a subject which I have never obtruded upon any one. I have 
never made any pretensions to anything extraordinary, as regards 
intellect or extensive information : but, were the reverse of this all 
true, and had I the wisdom of Solomon, and a mind as strong, as 
clear, and as penetrating as the rays of the sun at noonday when there 
is not a speck or a dot to obscure his disc, I should then even despair 
of breaking through the triple case of bigotry, superciliousness, and 
self-conceit, that surrounds the mind of the Senator from Oregon. 
Mind, did I say ? I recall that term ; I will not dignify it with the 
appellation of mind. No, it is the most miserable and the poorest 
caricature of a mind, that cannot even tell when it is upside up or 
upside down. 

The Senator has reviewed my political history. He has not dis- 
covered that I ever introduced or projected any great measure except 
the " homestead ;" to that I had given great attention and labor. 
From what he has said on this occasion, I may infer that he was 
opposed to the homestead policy. I believed it was a beneficent 
measure. It has been an object long near my heart to see every head 
of a family domicilated. I thought it was important that every hon- 
est and industrious head of a family in this Eepublic should have a 
home and an abiding place for his wife and children. I think so 
still. I can well remember the period of time at which I could exult 
in the assurance that I had a home for my family ; and I know how 
to sympathize with those who are not so blessed. Less gifted than 
the Senator from Oregon, I did not perceive that when, in the Sen- 
ate, in the House of Representatives, and before the people, I advo- 
cated a measure that I thought had a tendency to alleviate and ame- 
liorate the condition of the great mass of mankind, I was incurring 
the censure that is due to a crime. Lamentably devoid of his wis- 
dom, if I had succeeded in accomplishing the great object I contem- 
plated, the measure of my ambition would have been full. I have 
labored for it long ; I labor still. In 1846 it was introduced into the 
House of Eepresentati ves with but few friends. In 1852 it received" 



G APPEXDIX. 

a two-thirds vote of that House. It came to the Senate of the United 
States, and during the last session of Congress forty-four Senators 
voted for it, and only eight against it. The Senator from Oregon 
himself, though he doubted and wavered, recorded his vote for it; 
but he is opposed to it now. I think it was one of the best acts of 
his life ; and if it had succeeded, I think it would have been better 
for the country. 

But he intimates that I have been voting and acting with senators 
who are not so intensely Southern as he pretends to be. Sir, look 
at the Senator's course this morning. Who has tried to defeat the 
measures that are so well calculated to restore peace ? Who is try- 
ing to eject the olive branch that has been brought into the Senate ? 
Why does he not stand with his noble colleague when this measure 
of peace is presented to the country ? 

But he refers to what has been the action of my State. Well, sir, 
we all know that the issue was directly made ; and what bas been 
the result ? Tennessee has spoken in language not to be misunder- 
stood. She has spoken in thunder tones that she is against viola- 
tions of the Constitution and treasonable schemes, which have 
resulted in breaking up the Government. The Senator assumes a 
special guardianship over Tennessee. He had better try to take 
care of Oregon, and leave my colleague and myself, and the Repre- 
sentatives from Tennessee, to attend to Tennessee affairs. Where 
does he stand ? His colleague is in favor of measures to restore 
peace and sustain the country, and he is against them ; and did it 
occur to him that others might ask how he stood with the people 
of Oregon ? Tennessee stands redeemed, regenerated, and disen- 
thralled by the exercise of the elective franchise, that glorious 
Franklin-rod which conducts the thunder of tyranny from the heads 
of the people. If the people of our sister States had enjoyed the 
same privilege of going to the ballot-box, and passing their judg- 
ment upon the ordinance of secession, I believe more of them would 
now be standing side by side with Tennessee, sustaining the laws 
and the Constitution. But the people have been overslaughed, 
a system of usurpation has been adopted, and a reign of terror 
instituted. 

The Senator is exceedingly solicitous about Tennessee. I am 
inclined to think— I do not intend to be censorious or personal, but 
entirely senatorial— that on twelve o'clock, on Monday next, or a 
few minutes before, when the hand of the dial is moving round to 
mark that important point of time when his term of office shall 
expire, instead of thinking about the action of my State, he may 
soliloquize in the language of Cardinal Wolsc-y, and exclaim : 



APPENDIX. 7 

" Nay, then, farewell ! 
I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness ; 
And, from that full meridian of my glory, 
I haste now to my setting : I shall fall 
Like a bright exhalation in the evening, 
And no man see me more." 

If the Senator lias received the news from Tennessee, if the in- 
formation has broken through that triple case of bigotry, super- 
ciliousness, and self-conceit which ensconce his caricature of a mind, 
with all his allusions to courage, and blood, and cowardice, he might 
feel like Macbeth, who, so long deceived by the juggling fiends, 
when told by Macduff that he was not of woman born, but from his 
mother's womb untimely ripped, in agony exclaimed : 

"Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, 
For it hath cowed my better part of man ; 
And be these juggliug fiends no more believ'd, 
That palter with us in a double sense ; 
That keep the word of promise to our ear, 
And break it to our hope." 

Yes, Mr. President, I have alluded to treason and traitors, and 
shall not shrink from the responsibility of having done so, come 
what will ; and while I, her humble representative, was speaking, 
Tennessee sent an echo back, in tones of thunder, which has carried 
terror and dismay through the whole camp of conspirators. 

The Senator has alluded to my political course. What has that 
to do with the pending question ? I did not attack the Senator 
from Oregon ; he has attacked me. I had not even made an allusion 
to him in my speech, except in general terms ; but he inquires into 
my consistency. How consistent has he been ? We know how he 
stands upon popular or squatter sovereignty. On that subject he 
Bpoke at Concord, New Hampshire, where he maintained that the 
inhabitants of the Territories were the best judges ; that they were 
the very people to settle all these questions. I will read what the 
Senator said on that occasion : 

" There is nothing in the law, gentlemen, but what every enlight- 
ened American heart should approve. The idea incoq)orated in the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill is the true American principle : for the bill 
does not establish or prohibit slavery ; but leaves the people of 
these Territories perfectly free to regulate their own local affairs in 
their own way. Is there any man who can object to that idea ? Is 
there any American citizen who can oppose that principle ? 

" Gentlemen, I desire to say to you that the principle. incorporated 
into the Kansas-Nebraska bill is the very principle in defence of 
which your forefathers entered into the service of their country in 



8 APPEXDIX. 

the Revolutionary war ; for the American colonies, two years pre- 
vious to the Declaration of Independence, asserted this same princi- 
ple we now find incorporated in the Kansas-Nebraska bill. 

" Upon examination, you will find that the Declaration of Rights, 
marie October 14, 1774, asserts that the people of the several colo- 
nies ' are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their 
several provincial legislatures in all cases of internal polity.' This 
waa refused by the Crown, but reasserted by our forefathers. Upon 
this issue the battles of the Revolution were fought ; by the blood 
of our fathers this principle of self-government was established. 
This right, refused by the king, was secured, consecrated, and estab- 
lished by the best blood that ever flowed in the veins of man. 
Would you now refuse to the people of the Territories the rights 
your noble sires demanded of the Crown, and won by their blood — 
thus placing yourselves in opposition to the right of self-govern- 
ment in the Territories, thereby occupying the very position towards 
the Territories that George III. did to the colonies ? 

"The simple question involved here is, ' are the people capable of 
regulating their internal affairs, or must Congress regulate those 
affairs for them V It is strictly the doctrine of congressional non- 
intervention. Now, if that idea is the correct one — if it be true that 
the American people are capable of self-government — then the prin- 
ciples of the Kansas-Nebraska bill are right, and opposition to that 
bill is wrong ; consequently, dangerous to the best interests of the 
country. 

" The question of slavery is a most perplexing one, and ought not 
to be agitated. "We should leave it with the State where it consti- 
tutionally exists, and the people of the Territories, to prohibit or 
establish, as to them may seem right and proper. 

" Ail that the Democracy asks in relation to this matter is, that 
the people of the Territory should be left perfectly free to settle the 
question of slavery for themselves, without the interference of New 
Hampshire, Massachusetts, or any other State." 

During the last Congress, however, the Senator made a speech, in 
which he repeated, I cannot tell how many times, " the equality of 
the States, the rights of the States in the Union, and their rights 
out of the Union ;" and he thus shifted his course and repudiated 
his former position on squatter sovereignty. That speech was made 
on the 24th of May last. From it I will read the following extract : 

" I only desire to say, in relation to the series of resolutions, a 
portion of which I have already voted in favor of, that I shall vote 
in favor of the rest ; for the whole of them together meet with my 
hearty approbation. They assert the truth ; they assert the great 
principle that the constitutional rights of the States are equal ; that 
the States have equal rights in this country under the Constitution ; 
and, as I understand it, they must be maintained in that equality. 
These resolutions only assert that principle ; and I say that it is a 
misfortune to the country, in my opinion, that the principles laid 



APPENDIX. 9 

down in these resolutions had not been asserted sooner. They ought 
to have been asserted by the Democratic party, in plain English, ten 
years ago. If they had been, you would have had no trouble in this 
country to-day ; the Democratic party would have been united and 
strong, and the equality and constitutional rights of the States 
would have been maintained in the Territory, and in all other 
things ; squatter sovereignty would not have been heard of, and 
to-day we would be united." 

If the conflict between his speech made in Concord in 1856 and 
his speech made here on the 24th day of May last can be reconciled, 
according to any rules of construction, it is fair to reconcile the con- 
flict. If the discrepancy is is so great between his speech made 
then and his speech on the 24th of May last as not to be reconciled, 
of course the discrepancy is against him ; but I am willing to let one 
speech go as a set-off to the other, which will make honors easy, so 
far as speech-making is concerned. 

Then how does the matter stand ? The speech made at Concord, 
extracts from which I have read, is on the one side, and that made 
in the Senate on the 24th of May last, to which I have referred, is 
on the other side. Now we will come to the sticking place. We 
will now make a test from which there is no escape. You have seen 
the equivocation to-day. You have seen the cuttle-fish attempt to 
becloud the water and elude the grasp of its pursuer. I intend to 
stick his inconsistencies to him as close and tight as what I have 
heard sometimes called " Jew David's adhesive plaster." Now to 
the record, and we will see how the Senator's vote stands as compared 
with his speeches. By referring to the record, it will be found that 
Mr. Clingman offered the following as an amendment to the fourth 
resolution of the series introduced by Mr. Davis : 

" Resolved, That the existing condition of the Territories of the 
United States does not require the intervention of Congress for the 
protection of property in slaves." 

What was the vote on the amendment proposed to that resolution 
by Mr. Brown, to strike out the word " not ?" I want the Senator's 
attention, for I am going to cite the record, from which there is no 
appeal. How would it read to strike out the word " not ?" 

" That the existing condition of the Territories of the United 
States does require the intervention of Congress for the protection 
of property in slaves." 

Among those who voted against striking out the word ''not," 
who declared that protection of slavery in the Territories by legisla- 
tion cf Congress was unnecessary, was the Senator from Oregon. 

27 



10 APPEXDIX. 

When was that ? On the 25th day of May last. The Senator, under 
the solemn sanction of his oath, declared that legislation was not 
necessary. Now where do we find him ? Here is a proposition to 
amend the Constitution to protect the institution of slavery in the 
States, aud here is the proposition brought forward by the peace con- 
ference, and we find the Senator standing against the one, and I 
believe he recorded his vote against the other. 

But we will proceed further with the investigation. The Senator 
voted that it was not necessary to legislate by Congress for the pro- 
tection of slave property. Mr. Brown then offered the amendment 
to the resolution submitted by Mr. Davis, to strike out all after the 
word " resolved," and to insert in lieu thereof: 

" That experience having already shown that the Constitution and 
the common law, unaided by statutoiy enactment, do not afford 
adequate and sufficient protection to slave property — some of the 
Territories having failed, others having refused, to pass such enact- 
ments — it has become the duty of Congress to interpose, and pass 
such laws as will afford to slave property in the Territories that pro- 
tection which is given to other kinds of property." 

We have heard a great deal said here to-day of " other kinds," 
and every description of property. There is a naked, clear pro- 
position. Mr. Brown says it is needed ; that the court and the 
common law do not give ample protection ; and then the Senator 
from Oregon is called upon ; but what is his vote ? We find, in the 
vote upon this amendment, that but three senators voted for it ; and 
the Senator from Oregon records his vote, and says " no," it shall not 
be established ; and every Southern Senator present, save three, 
voted against it also. When was that ? On the 25th day of May 
last. Here is an amendment, now. to protect and secure the States 
against any encroachment upon the institution within the States, 
and there the Senator from Oregon swore that no further legislation 
was necessary to protect it in the Territories. Then, all the amend- 
ments being voted down, the Senate came to the vote upon this 
resolution : 

" That if experience should at any time prove that the judicial 
and executive authority do not possess means to insure adequate 
protection to constitutional rights in a Territory, and if the terri- 
torial government should fail or refuse to provide the necessary 
remedies for that purpose, it will be the duty of Cougress to supply 
such deficiency, within the limits of its constitutional powers." 

Does not the resolution proceed upon the idea that it was not 
necessary then • but if hereafter the Territories should refuse, and 
the courts and the common law could not give ample protection, 



APPENDIX. 11 

then it would be the fluty of Congress to do this thing ? What has 
transpired since the 25th day of May last ? Is not the decision of 
the court with us ? Is there not the Constitution carrying it there ? 
Why was not this resolution, declaring protection necessary, passed 
during the last Congress ? The presidential election was on hand. 

I have been held up, and indirectly censured, because I have stood 
by the people ; because I have advocated those measures that are 
sometimes called demagogical. I would to God that we had a few 
more men here who were for the people in fact, and who would 
legislate in conformity with their will and wishes. If we had, the 
difficulties and dangers that surround us now, would be postponed, 
and set aside ; they would not be upon us. But in May last, we 
could not vote that it was necessary to pass a slave code for the 
Territories. Oh, no ! the presidential election was oh hand. We 
were very willing then to try to get Northern votes ; to secure their 
influence in the passage cf resolutions ; and to crowd some men 
down, and let others up. It was all very well then ; but since the 
people have determined that some one else should be President of 
the United States, all at once the grape has got to be very sour, and 
gentlemen do not have as good an opinion of the people as they had 
before, they have changed their views in regard to the people. 
They have not thought quite as well of some of the aspirants as 
they desired ; and, as they could not get to be President and Vice- 
President of all these United States, rather than miss it altogether, 
they would be perfectly willing to be President and Vice-President 
of a part, and therefore they will divide — yes, they will divide. 
They are in favor of secession ; of breaking up the Union ; of hav- 
ing the rights of the States out of the Union ; and as they signally 
failed in being President and Vice-President of all, as the people 
have decided against them, they have reached that precise point of 
time at which the Government ought to be dissevered and broken 
up. It looks a little that way. 

I have no disposition, Mr. President, to press this controversy 
further. If the Senator from Oregon is satisfied with the reply he 
has made to my speech or speeches, I am more than satisfied. I am 
willing that his speeches and mine shall go to the country ; and, as 
to the application and understanding of the authorities that are 
recited in each, I am willing to leave for the determination of an 
intelligent public. I shall make no issue with him on that subject. 
I feel to-day — and I say it in no spirit of egotism — that, in the reply 
I made to his speech, I vanquished every position he assumed ; I 
nailed many of his statements to the counter as spurious coin ; and 
I felt that I had the arguments, that I had the authority ; and sc 



12 APPEXDIX. 

feeling, I know when I have my adversary in my power ; I know 
when I have an argument that cannot be explained away, and a fact 
that cannot be upturned. The Senator felt it. I know he felt it 
from his former manifestations, and from the manner in which he 
has poured forth the wrath so long nursed in his bosom. Yes, sir, 
in that contest, figuratively speaking, he was impaled and left writh- 
ing in bitter agony. He felt it. I saw he felt it, and now I have no 
disposition, in concluding my remarks, to mutilate the dead or add 
one single pang to the tortures of the already politically damned. 
I am a humane man ; I will not add another pang to the intolerable 
sufferings of the distinguished Senator from Oregon. [Laughter.] 
I sought no controversy with him ; I made no issue with him ; it 
has been forced upon me. How many have attacked me ; and is 
there a single man, north or south, who is in favor of this glorious 
Union, who has dared to make an assault upon me ? Is there one ? 
No, not one. But it is all from secession ; but it is all from that 
reign of terror which usurpation has inaugurated. The Senator has 
made the set-to ; and it is for the Senate and the country to deter- 
mine who has been crushed in the tilt. I am satisfied, if he is. I 
am willing, as I said before, that his speech and mine shall go to 
the country, and let an intelligent people read and understand, and 
see who is right and who is wrong on this great issue. 

But, sir, I alluded to the fact that secession has been brought 
about by usurpation. During the last forty days six States of this 
Confederacy have been taken out of the Union ; how ? By the 
voice of the people ? No ; it is demagogism to talk of the people. 
By the voice of the freemen of the country ? No. By whom has it 
been done ? Have the people of South Carolina passed upon the 
ordinance adopted by their Convention ? No ; but a system of 
usurpation was instituted, and a reign of terror inaugurated. How 
was it in Georgia ? Have the people there passed upon the ordi- 
nance of secession ? No. We know that there was a j>owerful 
party there, of passive, conservative men, who have been over- 
slaughed, borne down ; and tyranny and usurpation have triumphed. 
A convention passed an ordinance to take the State out of the Con- 
federacy ; and the very same convention appointed delegates to go 
to a congress to make a constitution, without consulting the people. 
So with Louisiana ; so with Mississippi ; so with all the six States 
•which have undertaken to form a new confederacy. Have the 
people been consulted ? Not in a single instance. We are in the 
habit of saying that man is capable of self-government ; that he has 
the right, the unquestioned right, to govern himself; but here, a 
government has been assumed over him ; it has been taken out of 



APPENDIX. 13 

his bands, and at Montgomery a set of usurpers are enthroned, legis- 
lating, and making constitutions and adopting them, without con- 
sulting the freemen of the country. Do we not know it to be so ? 
Have the people of Alabama, of Georgia, of any of those States, 
passed upon it ? No ; but a constitution is adopted by those men, 
with a provision that it may be changed by a vote of two-thirds. 
Four votes in a convention of six can change the whole organic law 
of a people constituting six States. Is not this a coup d'etat equal 
to any of Napoleon ? Is it not a usurpation of the people's rights 'I 

In some of those States, even the flag of our country has been 
changed. One State has a palmetto, another has a pelican, and 
another has the rattlesnake run up instead of the stars and stripe-'-. 
On a former occasion, I spoke of the origin of secession ; and I 
traced its early history to the garden of Eden, when the serpent's 
wile and the serpent's wickedness beguiled and betrayed our first 
mother. After that occurred, and they knew light and knowledge, 
when their Lord and Master appeared, they seceded, and hid them- 
selves from his presence. The serpent's wile and the serpent's 
wickedness first started secession ; and now secession brings about 
a return of the serpent. Yes, sir ; the wily serpent, the rattlesnake, 
has been substituted as the emblem on the flag of one of the seced- 
ing States ; and that old flag, the Stars and the Stripes, under which 
our fathers fought, and bled, and conquered, and achieved our rights 
and our liberties, is pulled down and trailed in the dust. Will the 
American people tolerate it ? They will be indulgent ; time, I think, 
is wanted ; but they will not submit to it. 

A word more in conclusion. Give the border States that security 
which they desire, and the time will come when the other States 
will come back ; when they will be brought back — how ? Not by 
the coercion of the border States, but by the coercion of the people ; 
and those leaders who have taken them out will fall beneath the 
indignation and the accumulating force of that public opinion which 
will ultimately crush them. The gentlemen who have taken those 
States out are not the men to bring them back. 

I have already suggested that the idea may have entered into 
some minds, " if we cannot get to be President and Vice-President 
of the whole United States, we may divide the Government, set up 
a new establishment, have new offices, and monopolize them ourselves 
when we take our States out." Here we see a President made, a Vice- 
President made, cabinet officers appointed, and yet the great mass 
of the people not consulted, nor their assent obtained in any manner 
whatever. The people of the country ought to be aroused to this 
condition of things ; they ought to buckle on their armor ; and, as 



14 APPENDIX. 

Tennessee has done, (God bless her I) by the exercise of the elective 
franchise, by going to the ballot-box under a new set of leaders, 
repudiate and put down those men who have carried these States 
out and usurped a government over their heads. I trust in God 
that the old flag of the Union will never be struck. I hope it may 
long wave, and that we may long hear the national air sung : 

" The star-spangled banner, long may it wave, 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." 

Long may we hear Hail Columbia, that good old national ah ; 
long may we hear, and never repudiate, the old tune of Yankee 
Doodle ! Long may wave that gallant old flag which went through 
the Revolution, and which was borne by Tennessee and Kentucky at 
the battle of New Orleans. And in the language of another, while 
it was thus proudly and gallantly unfurled as the emblem of the 
Union, the Goddess of Liberty hovered around, when " the rockets' 
red glare" went forth through the heavens, indicating that the 
battle was raging, and the TT oice of the old chief could be heard 
rising above the din of the storm, urging his gallant men on to the 
stern encounter, and watched the issue as the conflict grew fierce, 
and the result was doubtful ; but when, at length, victory perched 
upon your standard, it was then, from the plains of New Orleans, 
that the Goddess made her loftiest flight, and proclaimed victory in 
strains of exultation. Will Tennessee ever desert the grave of him 
who bore it in triumph, or desert the flag that he waved with 
success ? No, never ! she was in the Union before some of these 
States were spoken into existence ; and she intends to remain in, 
and insist upon — as she has the confident belief that she shall get — 
all her constitutional rights and protection in the Union, and under 
the Constitution of the country. [Applause in the galleries.] 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Fitch in the chair) : It will become 
the unpleasant but imperative duty of the Chair to clear the 
galleries. 

Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee : I have done. 

[The applause was renewed, and was louder and more general 
than before. Hisses were succeeded by applause, and cheers were 
given and reiterated, with " three cheers more for JonNSON, of 
Tennessee."] 



APPENDIX. 15 

SECESSION OF TENNESSEE. 

The folio-wing documents are alluded to in Chapter XV. : 

An Act to Submit to a Vote of the People a Declaration 
of Independence, and fok Other Purposes. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State 0/ 
Tennessee, That immediately after the passage of this Act, the Gover- 
nor of this State shall, by proclamation, direct the sheriffs of the sev- 
eral counties in this State to open and hold an election at the various 
voting precincts in their respective counties on the 8th day of June, 
1861 ; that the said Sheriffs, or, in the absence of the Sheriffs, the 
Coroner of the county, shall immediately advertise the election con- 
templated by this Act ; that said Sheriffs appoint a deputy to hold 
said election for each voting precinct, and the said deputy appoint 
three judges and two clerks for each precinct, and if no officer shall, 
from any cause, attend any voting precinct to open and hold said 
election, then any Justice of the Peace, or, in the absence of Justice 
of the Peace, any resjjectable freeli older may appoint an officer, judges 
and clerks to open and hold said election. Said officers, judges, and 
clerks, shall be sworn as now required by law, and who, after being 
so sworn, shall open and hold an election, open and close at the time 
of day and in the manner now required by law in elections for mem- 
bers to the General Assembly. 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That at said election the following 
declaration shall be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of the 
State of Tennessee, for their ratification or rejection: 

Declaration of Independence and Ordinance Dissolving the 
Federal Relation between the State of Tennessee and 
the United States of America. 

First : We, the people of the State of Tennessee, waiving an ex- 
pression of opinion as to the abstract doctrine of Secession, but assert- 
ing the right as a free and independent people to alter, reform or 
abolish out form of Government in such manner as we think proper, 
do ordain and declare that all the laws and ordinances by which the 
State of Tennessee became a member of the Federal Union of the 
United States of America are hereby abrogated and annulled, and 
that all obligations on our part be withdrawn therefrom ; and we do 
hereby resume all the rights, functions and powers which by any of 
said laws and ordinances were conveyed to the Government of the 
United States, and absolve ourselves from all the obligations, re- 



16 APPENDIX. 

straints and duties incurred thereto ; and do hereby henceforth be- 
come a free, sovereign and independent State 

Second: We furthermore declare and ordain, that Article 10, Sec- 
tions 1 and 2 of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, which 
requires members of the General Assembly, and all officers, civil and 
military, to take an oath to support the Constitution of the United 
States, be and the same are hereby abrogated and annulled, and all 
parts of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee making citizenship 
of the United States a qualification for office, and recognizing the 
Constitution of the United States as the supreme law of this State, 
are in like manner abrogated and annulled. 

Third.: We furthermore ordain and declare, that all rights ac- 
quired and vested under the Constitution of the United States, or 
under any act of Congress passed in pursuance thereof, or under any 
laws of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall 
remain in force, and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not 
been passed. 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That said election shall be by ballot, 
that those voting for the Declaration and Ordinance shall have writ- 
ten or printed on their ballots " Separation," and those voting against 
it shall have written or printed on their ballots " No Separation." 
That the clerks holding said election shall keep regular scrolls of the 
voters, as now required by law in the election of members to the 
General Assembly ; that the clerks and judges shall certify the same, 
with the number of votes for " Separation," and the number of votes 
for " No Separation," and file one of the original scrolls with the 
clerk of the County Court ; that upon comparing the vote by the 
Governor in the office of the Secretary of State, which shall be at 
least by the 24th day of June, 1861, and may be sooner if the returns 
are all received by the Governor, if a majority of the votes polled 
shall be for " Separation," the Governor shall, by his proclamation, 
make it known, and delare all connection by the State of Tennessee 
with the Federal Union dissolved, and that Tennessee is a free, inde- 
pendent Government, free from all obligations to, or connection with 
the Federal Governmenl; and that the Governor shall cause "the 
vote by counties" to be published, the number for " Separation," and 
the number for " No Separation," whether a majority vote for " Sep- 
aration" or " No Separation." 

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, That in the election to beheld under 
the provisions of this act, upon the Declaration submitted to the 
people, all volunteers and other persons connected with the service 
of this State, qualified to vote for members of the Legislature in the 
counties where they reside, shall be entitled to vote in any county in 



APPEXDIX. IV 

the State "where they may be in active service, or under orders, or on 
parole, at the time of said election ; and all other voters, shall vote 
in the county where they reside, as now required by law in voting 
for members of the General Assembly. 

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That at the same time, and under the 
rules and regulations prescribed for the election hereinbefore ordered, 
the following ordinance shall be submitted to the popular vote. To 
wit : 

An Ordinance for the adoption of the Constitution of the Pro- 
visional Government of the Confederate States of America. 

We, the people of Tennessee, solemnly impressed by the perils 
that surround us, do hereby adopt and ratify the Constitution of the 
Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America, or- 
dained and established at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 8th day of 
February, 1861, to be in force during the existence thereof, or until 
such time as we may supersede it, by the adoption of a permanent 
Constitution. 

Sec. 6. Be it farther enacted, That those in favor of the adoption 
of said Provisional Constitution, and thereby securing to Tennessee 
equal representation in the deliberations and councils of the Confed- 
erate States, shall have written or printed on their ballots the word 
" Representation ;" opposed, the words " No Representation." 

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted, That, in the event the people shall 
adopt the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confed- 
erate States at the election herein ordered, it shall be the duty of the 
Governor forthwith to issue writs of election for delegates to repre- 
sent the State of Tennessee in the said Provisional Government. 
That the State shall be represented by as many delegates as it was 
entitled to members of Congress to the recent Congress of the United 
States of America, who shall be elected from the several Congressional 
Districts as now established by law, in the mode and manner now 
prescribed for the election of members of Congress of the United 
States. 

Sec. 8. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 

W. C. Whitthorne, Speaker of House of Rep. 
B. L. Stovall, Speaker of the Senate. 
Passed May 6, 186t 
Extract prom an Address op a Joint Committee op the Leg- 
islature op Tennessee. 

When this body met, it determined to sit with closed doors. We 
are aware that this mode of legislation ia objected to by some. It is 



18 APPENDIX. 

the first time in the history of the State that the rale has been adopted 
because in that history no case has occurred to call forth its exercise. 
The proceedings of the convention that framed the Declaration of 
Independence were in secret. The Convention that framed the Con- 
stitution of the United States, held its secret sessions, and the Senate 
of the United States not unfrequently sit with closed doors. Those 
who have taken no occasion to condemn us, may be purer than those 
who framed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution 
of the United States ; but we very much doubt whether they will 
have greater hold upon public confidence. But the reasons for our 
course are our best justification ; the country was excited, and the 
public demands imperious. We desired to legislate uninfluenced 
and unretarded by the crowds that would otherwise have attended 
our deliberations ; but still more than this, the western portion of 
Tennessee was in an exposed condition, with no military defense 
whatever ; the towns and counties bordering on the Mississippi river 
were liable to be assailed at any hour by the armed forces collected 
at Cairo, and we desired that no act of legislation on our part should 
form the pretext for such an invasion, so long as it could be avoided. 
Our fellow-citizens of West Tennessee, and of Arkansas, are laboring 
night and day to erect batteries on the river to prevent a descent 
of the enemy. A duty that we owed to them and to the cause of 
humanity demanded that we should not make our action known till 
the latest possible moment. If some desired light while we were at 
work we equally desirous to save the blood and property of Tcnnes- 
seeans. Our doors have now been thrown open, the journals will be 
published — every vote is recorded, and he must be a fault-finder 
indeed who will complain after hearing the reasons that prompted 
our actions. 

We have briefly touched the principal subjects that engaged the 
attention of the legislature. Tennessee has taken her position and 
has proudly determined to throw her banners to the breeze, and will 
give her strength to the sacred cause of freedom for the white man 
of the South. 

R. G. Payne, J. A. Minnis, Robt. B. Hurt. 

Edmund J. Wood, G. Gantt, Benj. J. Lea, 

S. S. Stanton, W. W. Guy, Joseph G. Pickett. 

Call for a Convention op tiie People op Eastern Tennessee. 

The undersigned, a portion of the people of East Tennessee, disap- 
proving of the hasty and inconsiderate action of our General Assem- 
bly, and sincerely desirous to do, in the midst of the troubles which 



APPENDIX. 19 

surround us, -what will be best for our country, and for all classes of 
our citizens respectfully appoint a Convention to be held in Knox- 
ville, on Tuesday, the 30th of May inst., and we urge every county 
in East Tennessee to send delegates to this Convention, that the con- 
servative element of our whole section may be represented, and that 
wise, prudent, and judicious counsels may prevail, looking to peace 
and harmony among ourselves. 

F. S. Heiskell, C. F. Trigg, O. P. Temple, 

C. H. Baker, David Burnett, John Tunnell, 

S. R. Rodgers, John Williams, W. G. Brownlow, 

Dr. W. Rodgers, J. J. Craig, and others. 

John Baxter, W. H. Rogers, 

Joint Resolution Ratifying the League. 

Whereas, A Military league, offensive and defensive, was formed, 
on this the 7th day of May, 1861, by and between A. O. W. Totten, 
Gustavus A. Henry, and Washington Barrow, Commissioners on the 
part of the Stete of Tennessee, and H. W. Hilliard, Commissioner on 
the part of the Confederate States of America, subject to the confirm- 
ation of the two Governments ; 

Be it therefore resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ten- 
nessee, That said league be in all respects ratified and confirmed, and 
the said General Assembly hereby pledges the faith and honor of the 
State of Tennessee to the faithful observance of the terms and condi- 
tions of said league. 

The vote of the Senate, on the adoption of the above was — ayes 14, 
nays 6 ; not voting 4. The vote in the House was — ayes 42, nays 
15 ; not voting 18. 



Great Speech in the United States Senate on the War for 
the Union after the Battle of Bull Run. 

On the 26th of July, 1861, Mr. Johnson, in the Senate of the 
United States, offered the following resolution defining the 

OBJECTS OF THE WAR. 

Resolved, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced 
upon the country by the disunionists of the Southern States, now 
in revolt against ihe constitutional government, and in arm- around 
the Capitol ; that, in this national emergency, Congress, banishing 



20 APPENDIX. 

all feeling of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty 
to the whole country ; that this war is not prosecuted upon our part 
in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subju- 
gation, nor for the purpose of authorizing or interfering with the 
rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and 
maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in 
pursuance thereof, and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, 
equality, and rights of the several States, unimpaired ; that as soon 
as these objects'are accomplished, the war ought to cease. 

After a spirited debate, the resolution was adopted— ayes 80 ; 
noes 5. 

A similar resolution had been adopted by the House of Represen- 
tatives, on motion of Hon. John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, on the 
22d of the same month. 

THE WAR FOE THE UNION, JAN. 27TH. 

The Senate having under consideration the joint resolution to 
approve and confirm certain acts of the President of the United 
States for suppressing insurrection and rebellion, Mr. Johnson, of 
Tennessee, said : 

Me. President, — "When I came from my home to the seat of 
Government, in compliance with the proclamation of the President 
of the United States calling us together in extra session, it was not 
my intention to engage in any of the discussions that might trans- 
pire in this body ; but since the session began, in consequence of the 
course which things have taken, I feel unwilling to allow the Senate 
to adjourn without saying a few words in response to many things 
that have been submitted to the Senate since its session commenced. 
What little I shall say to-day will be without much method or order. 
I shall present the suggestions that occur to my mind, and shall 
endeavor to speak of the condition of the country as it is. 

On returning here, we find ourselves, as we were when we ad- 
journed last spring, in the midst of a civil war. That war is now 
progressing, without much hope or prospect of a speedy termination. 
It seems to me, Mr. President, that our Government has reached one 
of three periods through which all Governments must pass. A 
nation, or a people, have first to pass through a fierce ordeal in 
obtaining their independence or separation from the Government to 
which they were attached. In some instances this is a severe ordeal. 
We passed through such a one in the Revolution ; we were seven 
years in effecting the separation, and in taking our position among 
the nations of the earth as a separate and distinct power. Then, 
after having succeeded in establishing its independence, and taken 



APPENDIX. 21 

its position among the nations of the earth, a nation must show its 
ability to maintain that position, that separate and distinct inde- 
pendence, against other powers, against foreign foes. In 1812, in 
the history of our Government, this ordeal commenced, and ter- 
minated in 1815. 

There is still another trial through which a nation must pass. It 
haa to contend against internal foes, against enemies at home ; 
against those who have no confidence in its integrity, or in the insti- 
tutions established under its organic law. We are in the midst of 
this third ordeal, and the problem now being solved before the 
nations of the earth, and before the people of the United States, 
is whether we can succeed in maintaining ourselves against the in- 
ternal foes of the Government ; whether we can succeed in putting 
down traitors and treason, and in establishing the great fact that we 
have a Government with sufficient strength to maintain its exist- 
ence against whatever combination may be presented in opposition 
to it. 

This brings me to a proposition laid down by the Executive in his 
recent message to the Congress of the United States. In that mes- 
sage the President said : 

" This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union, 
it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance 
of government, whose leading object is to elevate the condition of 
men ; to lift artificial weights from all shoulder* ; to clear the paths 
of laudable pursuit for all ; to afford all an unfettered start, and a 
fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and temporary 
departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the Govern- 
ment for whose existence we contend." 

I think the question is fairly aud properly stated by the President, 
that it is a struggle whether the people shall rule ; whether the 
people shall have Government based upon their intelligence, upon 
their integrity, upon their purity of character, sufficient to govern 
themselves. I think this is the true issue ; and the time has now 
arrived when the energies of the nation must be put forth, when 
there must be union and concert on the part of all those who agree 
in man's capability of self-government, without regard to their former 
divisions or party prejudices, in order to demonstrate that great 
proposition. 

Since this discussion commenced, it has been urged and argued, 
by senators on one side, that there was a disposision to change the 
nature and character of the Government, and that, if we proceed as 
we are going, it would result in establishing a dictatorship. It has 
been said that the whole frame work, nature, genius, and character 



22 APPENDIX. 

of the Government would be entirely changed ; and great apprehen- 
sions have been thrown out out that it would result in a consolida- 
tion of the Government, or a dictatorship. We find, in the speech 
delivered by the distinguished Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Breckin- 
ridge) the other day, the following paragraph, alluding to what will 
be the effect of the passage of this joint resolution approving the 
action of the President : 

" Here in Washington, in Kentucky, in Missouri, everywhere where 
the authority of the President extends, in his discretion he will feel 
himself warranted, by the action of Congress upon this resolution, 
to subordinate the civil to the military power ; to imprison citizens 
without warrant of law ; to suspend the writ of habeas corpus ; to 
establish martial law ; to make seizures and searches without war- 
rant ; to suppress the press ; to do all those acts which rest in the 
will and in the authority of a military commander. In my judg- 
ment, sir, if we pass it, we are upon the eve of putting, so far as we 
can, in the hands of the President of the United States the power 
of a dictator." 

Then, in reply to the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Baker), he seems 
to have great apprehension of a radical change in our form of gov- 
ernment. The Senator goes on to say : 

" The pregnant question, Mr. President, for us to decide is, whether 
the Constitution is to be 'respected in this struggle ; whether we are 
to be called upon to follow the flag over the ruins of the Constitu- 
tion ? Without questioning the motives of any, I believe that the 
whole tendency of the present proceedings is to establish a govern- 
ment without limitation of powers, and to change radically our 
frame and character of government." 



s> v 



Sir, I most fully concur with the Senator that there is a great effort 
being made to change the nature and character of the Government. 
I think that effort is being demonstrated and manifested most clearly 
every day ; but we differ as to the parties making this great effort. 

The Senator alludes, in his speech, to a conversation he had with 
some very intelligent gentlemen who formerly represented our coun- 
try abroad. It appears from that conversation that foreigners were 
accustomed to say to Americans, " I thought your Government ex- 
isted by consent ; now how is ic to exist ?" and the reply was, " We 
intend to change it ; we intend to adapt it to our condition ; these 
old colonial geographical divisions and States will ultimately be 
rubbed out, and we shall have a Government strong and powerful 
enough." The Senator seemed to have great apprehensions based 
on those conversations. He read a paragraph from a paper indica- 
ting that State lines were to be rubbed out. In addition to all this, 



APPENDIX. 23 

he goes on to state that the writ of habeas corpus has been violated, 
and he says since the Government commenced, there has not been a 
case equal to the one which has recently transpired in Maryland. I 
shall take up some of his points in their order, and speak of them 
as I think they deserve to be spoken of. The Senator says : 

" The civil authorities of the country are paralyzed, and a practi- 
cal martial law is being established all over the land. The like 
never happened in this country before, and would not be tolerated 
in any country in Europe which pretends to the elements of civili- 
zation and regulated liberty. George Washington carried the thir- 
teen colonies through the war of the Revolution without martial 
law. The President of the United States cannot conduct the Gov- 
ernment three months without resorting to it." 

The Senator puts great stress on the pomt, and speaks of it in 
very emphatic language, that General "Washington carried the coun- 
try through the seven years of the Revolution without resorting to 
martial law during all that period of time. Now, how does the 
matter stand ? When we come to examine the history of the coun- 
try, it would seem that the Senator had not hunted up all the cases. 
We can find some, and one in particular, not very different from the 
case which has recently occurred, and to which he alluded. In 
1777, the second year of the war of the Revolution, members of the 
Society of Friends in Philadelphia were arrested on suspicion of 
being disaffected to the cause of American Freedom. A publication 
now before me says : 

" The persons arrested, to the number of twenty," " were 

taken into custody by military force, at their homes or usual places 
of business ; many of them could not obtain any khowledge of the 
cause of their arrest, or of any one to whom they were amenable, 
and they could only hope to avail themselves of the intervention of 
some civil authority. 

" The Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania, being 
formed of residents of the city and county of Philadelphia, had a 
better knowledge of the Society of Friends and of their individual 
characters, than the members of Congress assembled from the various 
parts of the country, and ought to have protected them. But instead 
of this, they caused these arrests of their fellow-citizens to be made 
with unrelenting severity, and from the 1st to the 4th day of Sep- 
tember, 1777, the party was taken into confinement in the Mason's 
Lodge in Philadelphia. 

" On the minutes of Congress of 3d September, 1777, it appears 
that a letter was received by them from Creorge Bryan, Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Supreme Executive Council, dated 2d September, stating 
that arrests had been made of persons iuimical to the American 
States, and desiring the advice of Congress particularly whether 
Augusta and Winchester, in Virginia, would not be proper places 
at which to secure prisoners." 



24 APPENDIX. 

" Congress must have been aware that it was becoming a case of 
very unjust sufferiug, for they passed their resolution of 6th Septem- 
ber, 1 , as follows : 

" ' That it be recommended to the Supreme Executive Council of 
the State of Pennsylvania to hear what the said remonstrants can 
allege to remove the suspicions of their being disaffected or danger- 
ous to the United States.' 

But the Supreme Executive Council, on the same day, referring to 
the above — 

" Resolved, That the President do write to Congress to let them 
know that the Council has not time to attend to that business in the 
present alarming crisis, and that they were agreeably to the recom- 
mendation of Congress, at the moment the resolve was brought into 
Council, disposing of everything for the departure of the prisoners." 

As the recommendation of Congress of the 6th of September to 
give the prisoners a hearing was refused by the Supreme Executive 
Council, the next minute made by Congress was as follows : 

" In Congress, 8th September, 1777. 

" Resolved, That it would be improper for Congress to enter into a 
hearing of the remonstrants or other prisoners in the Mason's Lodge, 
they being inhabitants of Pennsylvania ; and therefore, as the Coun- 
cil declines giving them a hearing for the reasons assigned in their 
letter to Congress, that it be recommended to said Council to order 
the immediate departure of such of said prisoners as yet refuse to 
swear or affirm allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania, to Staunton, 
in Virginia." 



D* 



The remonstrances made to Congress, and to the Supreme Execu- 
tive Council being unavailing, the parties arrested were ordered to 
depart for Virginia on the 11th September, 1777, when, as their last 
resource, they applied under the laws of Pennsylvania, to be brought 
before the judicial courts by writs of habeas corpus. 

The departure of the prisoners was committed to the care of 
Colonel Jacob Morgan, of Bucks county, and they were guarded by 
six of the light-horse, commanded by Alexander Nesbitt and Samuel 
Caldwell, who were to obey the dispatches from the Board of War, 
of which General Horatio Gates was president, directed to the 
lieutenants of the counties through which the prisoners were to pass. 

The writs of habeas corpus, on being presented to the Chief Jus- 
tice, were marked by him, " Allowed by Thomas McKean," and they 
were served on the officers who had the prisoners in custody, when 
they had been taken on their journey as far as Reading, Pcnn., on 
the 14th day of September, but the officers refused to obey them. 

It appears by the journal of the Supreme Executive Council of 



APPENDIX. 



'J.O 



the 16th of September, that Alexander Nesbitt, one of the officers, 
had previously obtained information about the writs, and made a 
report of them ; when the Pennsylvania Legislature, at the instance 
of the Supreme Executive Council, passed a law, on the 101 a of 
September, 1777, to suspend the habeas corpus act ; and although it 
was an ex j'ost facto law, as it related to their case, the Supreme 
Executive Council on that day ordered the same to be carried into 
effect. 

Continuing the history of this case, we find that 

" The party consisted of twenty persons, of whom seventeen were 
members of the Society of Friends. They were ordered first to 
Staunton, then a frontier town in the western settlement of Virginia, 
but afterward to be detained at Winchester, where they were kept 
in partial confinement nearly eight months, without provision being 
made for their support ; for the only reference to this was by a reso- 
lution of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, dated 
April 8, 1778, as follows : 

ul OrcUred, That the whole expenses of arresting and confining the 
prisoners sent to "Virginia, the expenses of their journey, and all 
other incidental charges, be paid by the said prisoners.' 

" During the stay of the exiles at Winchester, nearly all of them 
suffered greatly from circumstances unavoidable in their situation — 
from anxiety, separation from their families, left unprotected in 
Philadelphia, then a besieged city, liable at any time to be starved 
out or taken by assault ; while from sickness and exposure during 
the winter season, in accommodations entirely unsuitable for them, 
two of their number departed this life in the month of March, 1778.'" 

Thus, Mr. President, we find that the writ of habeas corpus was 
suspended by the authorities of Pennsylvania during the Revolution, 
in the case of persons who were considered dangerous and inimical 
to the country. A writ was taken out and served upon the officers, 
and they refused to surrender the prisoners, or even to give them a 
hearing. If the Senator from Kentucky had desired an extreme 
case and wished to make a display of his legal and historical infor- 
mation, it would have been very easy for him to have cited this case 
— much more aggravated, much more extravagant, much more strik- 
ing, than the one in regard to which he was speaking. Let it be 
remembered, also, that this case, although it seems to be an extrava- 
gant and striking one, occurred during the war of the Revolution, 
under General Washington, before we had a President. We find that 
at that time the writ of habeas corpus was suspended, and twenty 
individuals were denied even the privilege of a hearing, because they 
were considered inimical and dangerous to the liberties of the 
country. In the midst of the Revolution, when the writ of habeas cor- 
pus was as well understood as it is now, when they were familiar with 
28 



26 APrENDIX. 

its operation in Great Britain, when they knew and understood all 
the rights and privileges it granted to the citizen, we find that the 
Legislature of Pennsylvania passed a law repealing the power to 
issue the writ of habeas corpus, and went back and relieved the 
officers who refused to obey the writs, and indemnified them from 
the operation of any wrong they might have done. If the Senator 
wanted a strong and striking case, one that would bear comment, 
why did he not go back to this case, that occurred in the Revolu- 
tion, during the very period referred to by him ? But no ; all these 
cases seem to have been forgotten, and the mind was fixed down 
upon a case of recent occurrence. There is a great similarity in the 
cases. The one to which I have alluded, however, is a much stronger 
case than that referred to by the Senator. It was in Philadelphia 
where Congress was sitting ; it was in Pennsylvania where these 
persons, who were considered inimical to the freedom of the country 
were found. Congress was appealed to, but Congress executed the 
order ; and the Legislature of Pennsylvania, after it was executed, 
though it was in violation of the writ of habeas corpus, passed a 
law indemnifying the persons that had violated it, and made it 
retrospective in its operation. What is our case now ? "We are not 
struggling for the establishment of our nationality, but we are now 
struggling for the existence of the Government. Suppose the writ 
of habeas corpus has been suspended ; the question arises whether 
it was not a justifiable suspension at the time ; and ought we not 
now to endorse simply what we would have done if wo had been 
here ourselves at the time the power was exercised ? 

The impression is sought to be made on the public mind, that this 
is the first and only case where the power has been exercised. I 
have shown that there is one ten-fold more striking, that occurred 
during our struggle for independence. Is this the first time that 
persons in the United States have been placed under martial law? 
In 1815, when New Orleans was about to be sacked, when a foreign 
foe was upon the soil of Louisiana, New Orleans was put under 
martial law, and Judge Hall was made a prisoner because he 
attempted to interpose. Is there a man here, or in the country, who 
condemns General Jackson for the exercise of the power of proclaim- 
ing martial law in 1815 ? Could that city have been saved without 
placing it under martial law, and making Judge Hall submit to it % 
I know that General Jackson submitted to be arrested, tried, and 
fined $1,000 ; but what did Congress do in that case ? It did just 
what we are called on to do in this case. By the restoration of his 
fine — an act passed by an overwhelming majority in the two Houses 
of Congress— the nation said, " We approve of what you did." 



APPENDIX. 2 7 

Suppose, Mr. President (and it may have been the case), that the 
existence of the Government depended upon the protection and 
successful defense of New Orleans ; and suppose, too, it was in viola- 
tion of the strict letter of the Constitution for General Jackson to 
place New Orleans under martial law, but without placing" it u 
martial law the Government would have been overthrown : is there 
any reasonable, any intelligent man, in or out of Congress, who 
would not endorse afid acknowledge the exercise of a power wbi< li 
was indispensable to the existence and maintenance of the Gov( rai- 
ment ? The Constitution was likely to be overthrown, the lav, 
about to be violated, and the Government trampled under foot ; and 
when it becomes necessary to prevent this, even by exercising a. 
power that comes in conflict with the Constitution in time of peace, 
it should and ought to be exercised. If General Jackson had lost 
the city of New Orleans, and the Government had been overthrown 
by a refusal on his part to place Judge Hall and the city of New 
Orleans under martial law, he ought to have lost his head. But he 
acted as a soldier ; he acted as a patriot ; he acted as a statesman ; 
as one devoted to the institutions and the preservation and the 
existence of his Government ; and the grateful homage of a nation 
was his reward. 

Then, sir, the power which has been exercised in this instance is 
no new thing. In great emergencies, when the life of a nation is in 
peril, when its very existence is flickering, to question too nicely, to 
scan too critically, its acts in the very midst of that crisis, when the 
Government is likely to be overthrown, is to make war upon it, and 
to try to paralyze its energies. If war is to be made upon those 
who seem to violate the laws of the United States in their efforts to 
preserve the Government, wait until the country passes out of its 
peril ; wait until the country is relieved from its difficulty ; wait 
until the crisis passes by, and then come forward, dispassionately, 
and ascertain to what extent the law has been violated, if, indeed, it 
has been violated at all. 

A great ado has been made in reference to the Executive procla- 
mation calling out the militia of the States to the extent of seventy- 
five thousand men. That call was made under the authority of the 
act of 1795, and is perfectly in accordance with the law. It has 
been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that that 
act is constitutional, and that the President alone is the judge of. 
the question whether the exigency has arisen. This decision was 
made in the celebrated case of Martin agt. Mott. The opinion of 
the Court was delivered by Judge Story. Let me read from the 
opinion of the Court : 



28 APPENDIX. 

" It has not been denied here that the act of 1795 is within the 
constitutional authority of Congress, or that Congress may not law- 
fully provide for cases of imminent danger of invasion, as well a8 
for cases where an invasion has actually taken place. In our opinion 
there is no ground for a doubt on this point, even if it had been 
relied on ; for the power to provide for repelling invasion includes 
the power to provide against the attempt and danger of invasion, 
as the necessary and proper means to effectuate the object. One of 
the best means to repel invasion is to provide the requisite force for 
action before the invader himself has reached the soil. 

" The power thus confided by Congress to the President is, doubt- 
less, of a very high and delicate nature. A free people are naturally 
jealous of the exercise of military power ; and the power to call the 
militia into actual service is certainly felt to be one of no ordinary 
magnitude. But it is not a power which can be executed without a 
corresponding responsibility. It is, in its terms, a limited power, 
confined to cases of actual invasion, or of imminent danger of inva- 
sion. If it be a limited power, the question arises, by whom is the 
exigency to be judged of and decided ? Is the President the sole 
and exclusive judge whether the exigency has arisen, or is it to be 
considered as an open question, upon which every officer, to whom 
the orders of the President are addressed, may decide for himself,- 
and equally open to be contested by every militia-man who shall 
refuse to obey the orders of the President ? We are all of opinion 
that the authority to decide whether the exigency has arisen belongs 
exclusively to the President, and that his decision is conclusive upon 
all other persons. We think that this construction necessarily results 
from the nature of the power itself, and from the manifest object 
"contemplated by the act of Congress. The power itself is to be 
exercised upon sudden emergencies, upon great occasions of state, 
and under circumstances which may be vital to the existence of the 
Union. A prompt and unhesitating obedience to orders is indispen- 
sable to the comjjlete attainment of the object. The service is a 
military service, and the command of a military nature ; and in 
such cases every delay and every obstacle to an efficient and imme- 
diate compliance necessarily tend to jeopard the public interests." 
— Martin vs. Jfott, 12 Wheatonh Reports, p. 29. 

We see, then, that the power is clear as to calling out the militia ; 
we see that we have precedents for the suspension of the writ of 
habeas corpus. 

The next objection made is that the President had no power to 
make additions to the army and navy. I say, in these two instances, 
he is justified by the great law of necessity. At the time I believe 
it was necessary to the existence of the Government ; and, it bqing 
necessary, he had a right to exercise all those powers, that, in his 
judgment, the crisis demanded for the maintenance of the existence 
of the Government itself. The simple question— if you condemn 
the President for acting in the absence of law — is, Do you condemn 



APPENDIX. 29 

the propriety of his course ; do you condemn the increase of the 
army ? Do you condemn the increase of the navy ? If you oppose 
the measure simply upon the ground that the Executive called them 
forth anticipating law, what will you do now ? The question pre- 
sents itself at this time, Is it not necessary to increase the army and 
the navy ? If you condemn the exercise of the power of the Execu- 
tive in the absence of law, what will you do now, as the law-making 
power, when it is manifest that the army and the navy should be 
increased ? You may make war upon the Executive for anticipating 
the action of Congress. What do gentlemen do now, when called 
upon to support the Government ? Co they do it ? They say the 
President anticipated the action of Congress. Does not the Govern- 
ment need an increase of the army and the navy ? Where do gentle- 
men stand now ? Are they for it ? Do they sustain the Government ? 
Are they giving it a helping hand ? No : they go back and find 
fault with the exercise of a power that they say is without lav; ; 
but now, when they have the power to make the law, and when the 
necessity is apparent, they stand back and refuse. Where does that 
place those who take that course ? It places them against the Gov- 
ernment, and against placing the means in the hands of the Govern- 
ment to defend and perpetuate its existence. The object is apparent, 
Mr. President. We had enemies of the Government here last winter ; 
in my opinion we have enemies of the Government here now. 

I said that I agreed with the Senator from Kentucky that there 
was a design — a deliberate determination — to change the nature and 
character of our Government. Yes, sir, it has been the design for a 
long time. All the talk about slavery and compromise has been but 
a pretext. We had a long disquisition, and a very feeling one, from 
the Senator from Kentucky. He became pathetic in the hopelessness 
of compromises. Did not the Senator from California (Mr. Latham), 
the other day, show unmistakably that it was not compromise they 
wanted ? I will add that compromise was the thing they most 
feared ; and their great effort was to get out of Congress before any 
compromise could be made. At first, their cry was peaceable secession 
and reconstruction. They talked not of compromise ; and, I repeal, 
their greatest dread and fear was that something would be agreed 
upon ; that their last and only pretext would be swept from under 
them, and that they would stand before the countiy naked and 
exposed. 

The Senator from California pointed out to you a number of them 
who stood here and did not vote for certain propositions, and those 
propositions were lost. What was the action before the Committee 
of Thirteen ? Why did not that Committee agree ? Some of the 



30 APPENDIX. 

most ultra men from the North were members of that Committee, 
and they proposed to amend the Constitution so as to provide that 
Congress in the future never should interfere with the subject of 
slavery. The Committee failed to agree, and some of its members 
at once telegraphed to their States, that they must go out of the 
Union at once. But after all that transpired in the early part of the 
session, what was done ? We know what the argument has been ; 
in times gone by I met it ; I have heard it again and again. It has 
been said that one great object was, first to abolish slavery in the 
District of Columbia and the slave trade between the States, as a 
kind of initiative measure ; next, to exclude it from the Territories ; 
and when the free States constituted three-fourths of all the States, 
so as to have power to change the Constitution, they would amend 
the Constitution, so as to give Congress power to legislate upon the 
subject of slavery in the States, and expel it from the States in 
which it is now. Has not that been the argument ? Now, how 
does the matter stand ? At the last session of Congress seven States 
withdrew — it may be said that eight withdrew ; reducing the remain- 
ing slave States down to one-fourth of the whole number of States. 
The charge has been made, that whenever the free States constituted 
a majority in the Congress of the United States, sufficient to amend 
the Constitution, they would so amend it as to legislate upon the 
institution of slavery within the States, and that the institution of 
slavery would be overthrown. This has been the argument ; it has 
been repeated again and again ; and hence the great struggle about 
the Territories. The argument was, we wanted to prevent the 
creation of free States ; we did not want to be reduced down to 
that point where, under the sixth article of the Constitution, three- 
fourths could amend the Constitution so as to exclude slavery from 
the States. This has been the great point ; this has been the ram- 
part ; this has been the very point to which it has been urged that 
the free States wanted to pass. Now, how does the fact stand ? 
Let us " render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." We reached, 
at the last session, just the point where we were in the power of the 
free States ; and then what was done ? Instead of an amendment 
to the Constitution of the United States, conferring power upon 
Congress to legislate upon the subject of slavery, what was done ? 
This joint resolution was passed by a two-third majority in each 
House : 

" Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America, in Congress assembled, That the following article 
be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as an amend- 
ment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified 



APPENDIX. 31 

by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents 
and purposes, as part of the said Constitution, viz : 

" Art. 13. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which 
will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish, or interfere, 
within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof including 
that of persons held to service or labor by the laws of said State." 

Is not that very conclusive ? Here is an amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States to make the Constitution unamend- 
able upon that subject, a,, it is upon some other subjects ; that Con- 
gress, in the future, should have no power to legislate on the subject 
of slavery within the States. Talk about "compromise," and about 
the settlement of this question ; how can you settle it more substan- 
tially ? How can you get a guarantee that is more binding than 
such an amendment to the Constitution ? This places the institu- 
tion of slavery in the States entirely beyond the control of Congress. 
Why have not the Legislatures that talk about " reconstruction " 
and " compromise " and " guarantees " taken up this amendment to 
the Constitution and adopted it ? Some States have adopted it. 
How many Southern States have done so ? Take my own State, for 
instance. Instead of accepting guarantees, protecting them in all 
future time against the legislation of Congress on the subject of 
slavery, they undertake to pass ordinances violating the Constitution 
of the country, and taking the State out of the Union and into the 
Southern Confederacy. It is evident to me that with many the talk 
about compromise and the settlement of this question is mere pre- 
text, especially with those who understand the question. 

What more was done at the last session of Congress, when the 
North had the power ? Let us tell the truth. Three territorial bills 
were brought forward and passed. You remember in 1847, when 
the agitation arose in reference to the Wilmot proviso. You remem- 
ber in 1850 the contest about slavery prohibition in the territories. 
You remember in 1854 the excitement in reference to the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill, and the power conferred on the Legislature by it. 
Now we have a constitutional amendment, proposed at a time when 
the Republicans have the power ; and at tbe same time they come 
forward with three territorial lulls, and in neither of those bills can 
be found any prohibition, so far as slavery is concerned in the terri- 
tories. Colorado, Nevada, and Dacotah are organized without any 
prohibition of slavery. But what do you find in these bills ? Mark, 
Mr. President, that there is no slavery prohibition ; mark, too, the 
language of the sixth section, conferring power upon the territorial 
Legislature : 

" Sec. 6. And le it further enacted, That the Legislative power of 



32 APPEXDIX. 

the Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation con- 
sistent with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions 
of this act ; but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary 
disposal of the soil ; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of 
the United States ; nor shall the lands or other property of non-resi- 
dents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents ; 
nor shall any law be passed impairing the rights of private property ; 
nor shall any discrimination lie made in taxing different kinds of 
property ; but all property subject to taxation shall be, in proportion 
to the value of the property, taxed/' 

Can there be any thing more clear and conclusive ? First, there 
is no prohibition ; next, the Legislature shall have no power to legis- 
late so as to impair the rights of private property, and shall not tax 
one description of property higher than another. Now, Mr. Presi- 
dent, right here I ask any reasonable, intelligent man throughout 
the Union, to take the amendment to the Constitution, take the 
three territorial bills, put them all together, and how much of the 
slavery question is left ? Is there any of it left ? Tet we hear talk 
about compromise ; and it is said the Union must be broken because 
you cannot get compromise. Does not this settle the whole ques- 
tion ? There is no slavery prohibition by Congress, and the Terri- 
torial Legislatures are expressly forbidden from legislating so as to 
impair the rights of property. I know there are some who are sin- 
cere in this talk about compromise : but there are others who are 
merely making it a pretext, who come here claiming something in 
the hope that it will be refused, and that then, upon that refusal, 
their States may be carried out of the Union. I should like to 
know how much more secure we can be in regard to this question 
of slavery. These three territorial bills cover every square inch of 
territory we have got ; and here is an amendment to the Constitution 
embracing the whole question, so far as the States and the public 
lands of the United States are concerned. 

I am as much for compromise as any one can be ; and there is no 
one who would desire more than myself to see peace and prosperity 
restored to the land ; but when we look at the condition of the 
country, we find that rebellion is rife ; that treason has reared its 
head. A distinguished Senator from Georgia once said, " When 
traitors become numerous enough, treason becomes respectable/' 
Traitors are getting to be so numerous now that I suppose treason 
has almost got to be respectable ; but, God being willing, whether 
traitors be many or few, as I have hitherto waged war against trai- 
tors and treason, and in behalf of the Government which was con- 
structed by our fathers, I intend to continue it to the end. [Applause 
in the galleries.] 



APPENDIX. 33 

The President pro tempore : Order. 

Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee : Mr. President, we are in the midst of 
a civil war ; blood lias been shed ; life has been sacrificed. Who 
commenced it ? Of that we will speak hereafter. I am speaking 
now of the talk about compromise. Traitors and rebels are stand- 
ing with arms in their bauds, and it is said that we must go forward 
and compromise with them. They are in the wrong ; they are making 
war upon the Government ; they are trying to upturn and destroy 
our free institutions. I say to them that the compromise I have to 
make under the existing circumstances is, " ground your arms ; obey 
the laws ; acknowledge the supremacy of the Constitution — when 
you do that, I will talk to you about compromises." All the com- 
promise that I have to make is the compromise of the Constitution 
of the United States. It is one of the best compromises that can be 
made. We lived under it from 1789 down to the the 20th of De- 
cember, 1860, when South Carolina undertook to go out of the 
Union. We prospered ; we advanced in wealth, in commerce, in 
agriculture, in trade, in manufactures,- in all the arts and sciences, 
and in religion, more than any people upon the face of God's earth 
had ever done before in the same time. What better compromise 
do you want ? You lived under it till you got to be a great and 
prosperous people. It was made by our fathers, and cemented by 
their blood. When you talk to me about compromise, I hold up to 
you the Constitution under which you derived all your greatness, 
and which was made by the fathers of your country. It will pro- 
tect you in all your rights. 

But it is said that we had better divide the country and make a 
treaty and restore peace. If, under the Constitution which was 
framed by Washington and Madison and the patriots of the Revolu- 
tion, we cannot live as brothers, as we have in times gone by, I ask 
can we live quietly under a treaty, separated as enemies ? The same 
causes will exist ; our geographical and physical position will remain 
just the same. Suppose you make a treaty of peace and divsion ; 
if the same causes of irritation, if the same causes of division con- 
tinue to exist, and we cannot live as brothers in fraternity under the 
Constitution made by our fathers, and as friends in the same Gov- 
ernment; how can we live in peace as aliens and enemies under a 
treaty ? It cannot be done ; it is impracticable. 

But, Mr. President, I concur fully with the distinguished Senator 
from Kentucky in the dislike expressed by him to a change in the form 
of government. He seemed to be apprehensive of a dictatorship. 
He feared there might be a change in the nature and character of 
our institutions. I could, if I chose, refer to many proofs to estab- 



34 APPENDIX. 

lish the fact that there has been a design to change the nature of 
our Government. I could refer to Mr. Rhett ; I could refer to Mr. 
Inglis ; I could refer to various others to prove this. The Mont- 
gomery Daily Advertiser, one of the organs of the so-called Southern 
Confederacy, says : 

" Has it been a precipitate revolution ? It has not. With cool- 
ness aud deliberation the subject has been thought of for forty 
years ; for ten years it has been the all-absorbing theme in political 
circles. From Maine to Mexico all the different phased and forms 
of the question have been presented to the people, until nothing 
else was thought of, nothing else spoken of, and nothing else taught 
in many of the political schools." 

This, in connection with other things, shows that this movement 
has been long contemplated, and that the idea has been to separate 
from and break up this Government, to change its nature and char- 
acter ; and now, after they have attempted the separation, if they 
can succeed, their intention is to subjugate and overthrow and make 
the other States submit to their form of government. 

To carry out the idea of the Senator from Kentucky, I want to 
show that there is conclusive proof of a design to change our Gov- 
ernment. 

I quote from the Georgia Chronicle : 

" Our own republican Government has failed midway in its trial, 
and with it have nearly vanished the hopes of those philanthropists 
who, believing in man's capacity for self-government, believed, there- 
fore, in spite of so many failures, in the practicability of a republic." 

" If this Government has gone down," asks the editor, " what 
shall be its substitute ?" And he answers by saying that, as to the 
present generation, " it seems their only resort must be to a constitu- 
tional monarchy." Hence, you see the Senator and myself begin to 
agree in the proposition that the nature and character of the Gov- 
ernment are to be changed. 

William Howard Russell, the celebrated correspondent of the 
London Times, spent some time in South Carolina, and he writes : 

" From all quarters have come to my ears the echoes of the same 
voice ; it may be feigned, but there is no discord in the note, and it 
sounds in wonderful strength and monotony all over the country. 
Shades of George III., of North, of Johnson, all of whom contended 
against the great rebellion which tore these colonies from England, 
can you hear the chorus which rings through the State of Marion, 
Sumter, and Pinckney, and not clap your ghostly hands in triumph ? 
That voice says, ' If we could only get one of the royal race of Eng- 
land to rule over us, we should be content !' Let there be no mis- 
conception on this point. That sentiment, varied in a hundred ways, 
has been repeated to me over and over again. There is a general 



APPEXDIX. 35 

admission that the means to such an end are wanting, and that the 
desire cannot be gratified. But the admiration for monarchical in- 
stitutions on the English model, for privile n -. and for a 
landed aristocracy and gentry, is undisguised and apparently genuine. 
With the pride of having achieved their independence, is mingled 
in the South Carolinian's heart a strange regret at the result and 
consequences, and many are they who 'would go back to-morrow, 
if we could.' An intense affection for the British connection, a love 
of British habits and customs, a respect for British sentiment, law, 
authority, order, civilization, and literature, pre-eminently distinguish 
the inhabitants of this State," etc. 

This idea was not confined to localities. It was extensively preva- 
lent, though policy prompted its occasional repudiation. At a meet- 
ing of the people of Bibb County, Georgia, the subject was discussed, 
and a constitutional monarchy was not recommended for the South- 
ern States, " as recommended by some of the advocates of imme- 
diate disunion." Here is evidence that the public mind had been 
sought to be influenced in that direction ; but the people were not 
prepared for it. Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, during the delivery of a 
speech by Mr. A. H. Stephens, before the Legislature of that State, 
did not hesitate to prefer the form of the British Government to our 
own. 

Not long since — some time in the month of May — I read in The 
Richmond Whiff, published at the place where their Government is 
now operating, the centre from which they are directing their armies, 
which are making war upon this Government, an article in which it 
is stated that, rather than submit to the Administration now in 
power in the City of Washington, they would prefer passing under 
the constitutional reign of the amiable Queen of Great Britain. I 
agree, therefore, with the Senator from Kentucky, that there is a 
desire to change this Government. We see it emanating from every 
point in the South. Mr. Toombs was not willing to wait for the 
movement of the people. Mr. Stephens, in his speech to the Legis- 
lature of Georgia, preferred the calling of a Convention ; but Mr. 
Toombs was unwilling to wait. Mr. Stephens was unwilling to see 
any violent action in advance of the action of the people ; but Mr. 
Toombs replied : " I will not wait ; I will not wait ; I will take the 
sword in my own hand, disregarding the will of the people, even in 
the shape of a Convention," and history will record that he kept his 
word. He and others had become tired and dissatisfied with a 
government of the people ; they have lost confidence in man's 
capacity for self-government ; and furthermore, they would be will- 
ing to form an alliance with Great Britain ; or, if Great Britain were 
slow in forming the alliance, with France ; and they know they can 



30 APPEXDIX. 

succeed there, on account of the hate and malignity which exist 
between the two nations. They would be willing to pass under the 
reign of the amiable and constitutional Queen of Groat Britain 1 
Sir, I love woman, and woman's reign in the right place ; but when 
we talk about the amiable and accomplished Queen of Great Britain, 
I must say that all our women are ladies, all are queens, all are equal 
to Queen Victoria, and many of them greatly her superiors. They 
desire no such thing ; nor do we. Hence we see whither this move- 
ment is tending. It is a change of government ; and in that the 
Senator and myself most fully concur. 

The Senator from Kentucky was wonderfully alarmed at the idea 
of a " dictator," and replied with as much point as possible to the 
Senator from Oregon, who made the suo-<restion. But, sir, what do 

O 7 ~0 7 7 

we find in The Eiehmand Examiner, published at the seat of govern- 
ment of the so-called Confederate States ? 

"In the late debates of the Congress of this Confederacy, Mr. 
"Wright, of Georgia, showed a true appreciation of the crisis when he 
advocated the grant of power to the President, that would enable 
him to make immediate defense of Richmond, and to bring the whole 
force of the Confederacy to bear on the affairs of Virginia. It is here 
that the fate of the Confederacy is to be decided ; and the time is 
too short to permit red tape to interfere with public safety. No 
power in executive hands can be too great, no discretion too abso- 
lute, at such moments as these. We need a dictator. Let lawyers 
talk when the world has time to hear them. Now let the sword do 
its work. Usurpations of power by the chief, for the preservation 
of the people from robbers and murderers, will be reckoned as genius 
and patriotism by all sensible men in the world, now, and by every 
historian that will will judge the deed hereafter." 

The articles of their leading papers, The Whig and The Examiner, 
and the speeches of their leading men — all show unmistakably that 
their great object is to change the character of the Government. 
Hence we come back to the proposition that it is a contest whether 
the people shall govern or not. I have here an article that appeared 
in The Memphis Bulletin, of my own State, from which it appears 
that under this reign of Secession, this reign of terror, this disinte- 
grating element that is destructive of all good, and the accomplisher 
of nothing that is right they have got things beyond their control : 

"• In times like these, there must be one ruling power to which all 
others must yield. ' In a multitude of counsellors,' saith the Book 
of Books, ' there is safety,' but nowhere we are told, in history or 
Revelation, that there is aught of safety in a multitude of rulers. 
Any ' rule of action,' sometimes called the ' law,' is better than a mul- 
titude of conflicting, irreconcilable statutes. Any one head is better 



APPENDIX. 37 

than forty, oacli of -which may conceive itself the nonpareil, par excel- 
lence, supreme 'caput' of all civil and military affairs. 

" Let Governor Harris be king, if need be, and Baugh a despot." 

" Let Governor Harris be king, and Baugh a despot," says 77ie Bul- 
letin. Who is Baugh ? Tho Mayor of Memphis. The mob reign of 
terror gotten up under this doctrine of Secession is so great that we 
find they are appealing to the one-man power. They are even will- 
ing to make the Mayor of the city a despot, and Isham G. Harris, a 
little petty Governor of Tennessee, a king. He is to be made king 
over the State that contains the bones of the immortal, the illustrious 
Jackson. Isham G. Harris a king ! Or Jeff. Davis a dictator, and 
Isham G . Harris one of his satraps. He a king over the free and 
patriotic people of Tennessee ! Isham G. Harris to be my king. 
Yes, sir, my king ! I know the man. I know his elements. I know 
the ingredients that constitute the compound called Isham G. Harris. 
King Harris to be my master, and the master of the people that I 
have the proud and conscious satisfaction of representing on this 
floor ! Mr. President, he should not be my slave. [Applause in the 
galleries.] 

The President pro tempore : Order ! A repetition ol the offense 
will compel the chair to order the galleries to be cleared forthwith. 
The order of the Senate must and shall be preserved. No demon- 
strations of applause or disapprobation will be allowed. The Chair 
hopes not to be compelled to resort to the extremity of clearing the 
galleries of the audience. 

Mr. Johnson of Tennessee : I was proceeding with this line of argu- 
ment to show that, in the general proposition that there was a fixed 
determination to change the character and nature of the Government, 
the Senator from Kentucky and myself agree, and so far I think I 
have succeeded very well. And now, when we are looldng at the 
elements of which this Southern Confederacy is composed, it may be 
well enough to examine the principles of the elements out of which 
a government is to be made that they prefer to this. We have shown, 
so far as the slavery question is concerned, that the whole question is 
settled, and it is now showm to the American people and the world 
that the people of the Southern States have now got no right which 
they said they had lost before they went out of this Union ; but, on 
the contrary, many of their rights have been diminished, and oppres- 
sion and tyranny have been inaugurated in their stead. Let me ask 
you, sir, and let me ask the nation, what right has any State in this 
so-called Confederacy lost under the Constitution of the United 
States ? Let me ask each individual citizen in the United States, 
what right has he lost by the continuance of this Government based 



33 APPENDIX. 

on the Constitution of the United States ? Is there a man North or 
South, East or West, who can put his finger on one single privilege, 
or one single right, of which he has been deprived by the Constitu- 
tion or Union of these States ? Can he do it ? Can he touch it ? 
Can he see it ? Can he feel it ? No, sir ; there is no one right that 
he has lost. How many rights and privileges, and how much pro- 
tection liave they lost by going out of the Union, and violating the 
Constitution of the United States ? 

Pursuing this line of argument in regard to the formation of their 
government, let us take South Carolina, for instance, and see what 
her notions of government are. She is the leading spirit, and will 
constitute one of the master elements in the formation of this pro- 
posed Confederate Government. What qualifications has South Car- 
olina affixed upon members of her Legislature ? Let us see what are 
her notions of government— a State that will contribute to the for- 
mation of the government that is to exist hereafter. In the Consti- 
tution of South Carolina it is provided that 

" No person shall be eligible to a seat in the House of Representa- 
tives unless he is a free white man, of the age of twenty-one, and 
hath been a citizen and resident of this State three years previous to 
his election. If a resident in the election district, he shall not be 
eligible to a seat in the House of Representatives unless he be legally 
seized and possessed, in his own right, of a settled freehold estate of 
five hundred acres of land and ten negroes." 

This is the notion that South Carolina has of the necessary quali- 
fications of a member of the lower branch of the State Legislature. 
Now, I desire to ask the distinguished Senator from Kentucky — 
who seems to be so tenacious about compromises, about rights, and 
about the settlement of this question, and who can discover that the 
Constitution has been violated so often and so flagrantly by the ad- 
ministration now in power, yet never can see that it has been violated 
anywhere else, if he desires to seek under this South Carolina Gov- 
ernment for his lost rights ? I do not intend to be personal. I wish 
he were in his seat, for he knows that I have the greatest kindness 
for him. I am free to say, in connection with what I am about to 
observe, that I am selfish in this ; because, if I lived in South Caro- 
lina, with these disabilities or disqualifications affixed upon a mem- 
ber, I would not be eligible to a seat in the lower branch of the Leg- 
islature. That would be a poor place for mo to go and get my 
rights ; would it not ? I doubt whether the Senator from Kentucky 
is eligible to-day to a seat in the lower branch of the Legislature of 
South Carolina. I do not refer to him in any other than the most 
respectful terms, but I doubt whether he would be qualified to take 



APPENDIX. 39 

a seat in the lower branch of her Legislature. I should not be ; and 
I believe I am just as good as any who do take seats there. 

In looking further into the Constitution of South Carolina, in order 
to ascertain what are her principles of government, what do we find ? 
We find it provided that, in the apportionment of these representa- 
tives, the whole number of white inhabitants is to be divided by 
sixty-two, and every sixty-second part is to have one member. Then 
all the taxes are to be divided by sixty-two, and every sixty-second 
part of the taxes is to have one member also. Hence we see that 
slaves, constituting the basis of property, would get the largest 
amount of representation ; and we see that property goes in an un- 
equal representation to all the numbers, while those numbers consti- 
tute a part of the property-holders. That is the basis of their repre- 
sentation. 

Sir, the people whom I represent desb'e no such form of govern- 
ment. Notwithstanding they have been borne down ; notwithstand- 
ing there has been an army of fifty-five thousand men created by the 
Legislature ; notwithstanding $5,000,000 of money has been appro- 
priated to be expended against the Union; and notwithstanding the 
arms manufactured by the Government, and distributed among the 
States for the protection of the people, have been denied to them by 
this little petty tyrant of a king, and are now turned upon the Gov- 
ernment for its overthrow and destruction, those people, when left to 
themselves to carry out their own government and the honest dic- 
tates of their own consciences, will be found to be opposed to this 
revolution. 

Mr. President, while the Congress of the Confederate States are 
engaged in the formation of their Constitution, I find a protest from 
South Carolina against a decision of that Congress in relation to the 
slave-trade, in The Charleston Mercury of February 13. It is written 
by L. W. Spratt, to " the Hon. John Perkins, delegate from Louisi- 
ana." It begins in this way : 

" From the abstract of the Constitution for the Provisional Gov- 
ernment, published in the papers this morning, it appears that the 
slave-trade, except with the Slave States of North America, shall be 
prohibited. The Congress, therefore, not content with the laws of 
the late United States against it, which, it is to be presumed, were 
re-adopted, have unalterably fixed the subject, by a provision of the 
Constitution." 

He goes on and protests. We all know that that Constitution is 
made for the day, just for the time being, a mere tub thrown out to 
the whale, to amuse and entertain the public mind for a time. We 
know this to be so. But in making his argument, what does he say ? 



40 APPENDIX. 

Mr. Spratt, a Commissioner who went to Florida, a member of the 
Convention that took the State of South Carolina out of the Union, 
says in this protest : 

"The South is now in the formation of a slave republic. This, 
perhaps, is not admitted generally. There are many contented to 
believe that the South as a geographical section, is in mere assertion 
of its independence ; that it is instinct with no especial truth — preg- 
nant of no distinct social nature; that for some unaccountable reason 
the two sections have become opposed to each other; that for rea- 
sons equally insufficient, there is disagreement between the people 
that direct them ; and that from no overruling necessity, no impossi- 
bility of co-existence, but as mere matter of policy, it has been con- 
sidered best for the South to strike out for herself and establish an 
independence of her own. This, I fear, is an inadequate conception 
of the controversy." 

This indicates the whole scheme. 

" The contest is not between the North and South as geographical 
sections, for between such sections merely there can be no contest ; 
nor between the people of the North and the people of the South ; 
for our relations have been pleasant ; and on neutral grounds there is 
still nothing to estrange us. We eat together, trade together, and 
practice yet, in intercourse with great respect, the courtesies of com- 
mon life. But the real contest is between two forms of society which 
have become established, the one at the North, and the other at the 
South." 

The protest continues : 

" With that perfect economy of resources, that just application of 
power, that concentration of forces, that security of order which re- 
sults to slavery from the permanent direction of its best intelligence, 
there is no other form of human labor that can stand against it, and 
it will build itself a home, and erect for itself, at some point within 
the present limits of the Southern States, a structure of imperial 
power and grandeur — a glorious Confederacy of States that will stand 
aloft and serene for ages, amid the anarchy of democracies that will 
reel around it." 

• •••••••» 

" But it may be that to this end another revolution may be neces- 
sary. It is to be apprehended that this contest between democracy 
and slavery is not yet over. It is certain that both forms of society 
exist within the limits of the Southern States ; both are distinctly 
developed within the limits of Virginia; and there, whether we 
perceive the fact or not, the war already rages. In that State there 
are about five hundred thousand slaves to about one million of 
whites ; and as at least as many slaves as masters are necessary to tho 
constitution of slave society, about five hunched thousand of the 
white population are in legitimate relation to the slaves, and the rest 
are in excess." 






APPENDIX. 41 

Hence we see the propriety of Mr. Mason's letter, in which he de- 
clared that all those who would not vote for secession must leave the 
State, and thereby you get clear of the excess of white population 
over slaves. They must emigrate : 

" Like an excess of alkali or acid in chemical experiments, they 
arc unfixed in the social compound. Without legitimate connection 
with the slave, they are in competition with him." 

The protest continues : 

"And even in this State (South Carolina), the ultimate result is 
not determined. The slave condition here would seem to be estab- 
lished. There is here an excess of one hundred and twenty thousand 
slaves; and here is fairly exhibited the normal nature of the institu- 
tion. The officers of the State are slave-owners, and the representa- 
tives of slave-owners. In their public acts they exhibit the conscious- 
ness of a superior position. Without unusual individual ability, 
they exhibit the elevation of tone and composure of public senti- 
ment proper to a master class. There is- no appeal to the mass, for 
there is no mass to appeal to ; there are no demagogues, for there is 
no populace to breed them; judges are not forced upon the stump; 
Governors are not to be dragged before the people ; and when there 
is cause to act upon the fortunes of our social institution, there is 
perhaps an unusual readiness to meet it." 

Again : 

" It is probable that more abundant pauper labor may pour in, and 
it is to be feared that, even in this State, the purest in its slave con- 
dition, democracy may gain a foot-hold, and that here also the con- 
test for existence may be waged between them. 

" It thus appears that the contest is not ended with a dissolution 
of the Union, and that the agents of that contest still exist within 
the limits of the Southern States. The causes that have contributed 
to the defeat of slavery still occur ; our slaves are still drawn off by 
higher prices to the "West. There is still foreign paupei labor ready 
to supply their place. Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, pos- 
sibly Tennessee and North Carolina, may lose their slaves as New 
York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have done. In that condition 
they must recommence the contest. There is no avoiding that neces- 
sity. The systems cannot mix ; and thus it is that slavery, like the 
Thraciun horse returning from the field of victory, still bears a master 
on his back ; and, having achieved one revolution to escape democ- 
racy at the North, it must still achieve another to escape it at the 
South. That it will ultimately triumph none can doubt. It will 
become redeemed and vindicated, and the only question now to be 
determined is, shall there be another revolution to that end ? 

" If, in short, you shall own slavery as the source of your authority, 
and act for it, and erect, as you are commissioned to erect, not only 
a Southern but a slave republic, the work will be accomplished 

" But if you shall not ; if you shall commence by ignoring slavery, 
or shall be content to edge it on by indirection ; if you shall exhibit 

20 



42 APPENDIX. 

care but for the republic, respect but a democracy; if you shall stip- 
ulate for the toleration of shivery as an existing evil, by admitting 
assumptions to its prejudice, and restrictions to its power and prog- 
ress, you reinaugurate the blunder of 1789 ; you will combine States, 
whether true or not, to slavery ; you will have no tests of faith ; some 
will find it to their interest to abandon it ; slave labor will be fet- 
tered, hireling labor will be free ; your Confederacy is again divided 
into antagonistic societies ; the irrepressible conflict is again com- 
menced ; and as slavery can sustain the structure of a stable govern- 
ment, and will sustain such a structure, and as it will sustain no 
structure but its own, another revolution comes ; but whether in the 
order and propriety of this, is gravely to be doubted." . 

In another part of this protest I find this paragraph : 

" If the clause be earned into the permanent government, our 
whole movement is defeated. It will abolitionize the border slave 
States — it will brand our institution. Slavery cannot share a gov- 
ernment with democracy — it cannot bear a brand upon it ; thence 
another revolution. It may be painful, but we must make it. The 
Constitution cannot be changed without. The border States, dis- 
charged of slavery, will oppose it. They are to be included by the 
concession ; they will be sufficient to defeat it. It is doubtful if an- 
other movement will be as peaceful." 

In this connection, let me read the following paragraph from De 
Bow's Review : 

" All government her/ins by visurpation, and is continual ty force. 
Nature put the ruling elements uppermost, and the masses below 
and subject to those elements. Less than this is not government. 
The right to govern resides in a veiy small minority ; the duty to 
obey is inherent in the great mass of mankind." 

We find by an examination of all these articles that the whole 
idea is to establish a republic based upon slavery exclusively, in 
which the great mass of the people are not to participate. We find 
an argument made here against the admission of non-slaveholding 
States into their Confederacy. If they refuse to admit a non-slave- 
holding State into the Confederacy, for the very same reason they 
will exclude an individual who is not a slaveholder, iu a slavehold- 
ing State, from participating in the exercise of the powers of the 
government. Taking the whole argument through, that is the 
plain meaning of it. Mr. Spratt says that sooner or later it will be 
done ; and if the present revolution will not accomplish it, it must 
be brought about even if another revolution has to take place. We 
see, therefore, that it is most clearly contemplated to change the 
character and nature uf the government so far as they are concerned. 
They have lost confidence in the integrity, in the capability, in the 
virtue and intelligence of the great mass of the people to govern. 



APPEXDIX. 43 

Sir, in the section of the country where I live, notwithstanding we 
reside in a slave State, we believe that freemen are capable of self- 
government. We care not in what shape their poverty exists ; 
whether it is in the shape of slaves or otherwise. We hold that it 
is upon the intelligent free white people of the country that all gov- 
ernments should rest, and by them all governments should be con- 
trolled. 

I think, therefore, sir, that the President and Senator from Ken- 
tucky have stated the question aright. This is a struggle between 
two forms of government. It is a struggle for the existence of the 
Government we have. The issue is now fairly made up. All who 
favor free government must stand with the Constitution, and in 
favor of the Union of the States as it is. That Union being once 
restored, the Constitution again becoming supreme and paramount, 
when peace, law, and order shall be restored ; when the Government 
shall be restored to its pristine position ; then, if necessary, we can 
come forward under proper and favorable circumstances to amend, 
change, alter, and modify the Constitution, as pointed out by the 
fifth article of the instrument, and thereby perpetuate the Govern- 
ment. This can be done, and this should be done. 

We have heard a great deal said in reference to the violation of 
the Constitution. The Senator from Kentucky seems exceedingly 
sensitive about violations of the Constitution. Sir, it seems to me, 
admitting that his apprehensions are well founded, that a violation 
of the Constitution for the preservation of the Government is more 
tolerable than one for its destruction. In all these complaints, in all 
these arraignments of the present Government for violation of law 
and disregard of the Constitution, have you heard, as was forcibly 
and eloquently said by the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Browning) 
before me. one word uttered against violations of the Constitution 
and the trampling under foot of law by the States or the party now- 
making war upon the Government of the United States ? Not a 
word, sir. 

The Senator enumerates what he calls violations of the Constitu- 
tion — the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, the proclaiming 
of martial law, the increase of the army and navy, and the existing 
war ; and then he asks, " Why all this ?" The answer must be 
apparent to all. 

But first, let me supply a chronological table of events on the 
other side : 

December 27. 1860. The revenue cutter William Aiken surren- 
dered by her commander, and taken possession of by South Carolina. 

December 28. Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, at Charleston, 
seii^d. 



44 APPENDIX. 

December 30. The United States arsenal at Charleston seized. 

January 2, 1S61. Fort Macon and the United States arsenal at 
Fayetteville seized by North Carolina. 

January 3. Forts Pulaski and Jackson, and the United States 
arsenal at Savannah, seized by Georgia troops. 

January 4. Fort Morgan and the United States arsenal at Mobile 
seized by Alabama. 

January 8. Forts Johnson and Caswell, at Sniitbville, seized by 
North Carolina ; restored by order of Governor Ellis. 

January 9. The Star of the West, bearing reinforcements to Major 
Anderson, fired at in Charleston harbor. 

January 10. The steamer Marion seized by South Carolina; 
restored on the 11th. 

January 11. The United States arsenal at Baton Rouge, and Forts 
Pike, St. Philip, and Jackson, seized by Louisiana. 

January 12. Fort Barancas and the Navy Yard at Pensacola 
seized by Florida. 

January 12. Fort McRae, at Pensacola, seized by Florida. 

These forts cost $5,947,000, are pierced for 1,099 guns, and are 
adapted for a war garrison of 5,430 men. 

We find, as was shown here the other day, and as has been shown 
on former occasions, that the State of South Carolina seceded, or 
attempted to secede, from this confederacy of States without cause. 
In seceding, her first step was a violation of the Constitution. She 
seceded on the 20th of last December, making the first innovation 
and violation of the law and the Constitution of the country. On 
the 28th day of December what did she do ? She seized Fort Moul- 
trie and Castle Pinckney, and caused your little band of sixty or 
seventy men, under the command of Major Anderson, to retire to a 
little pen in the ocean — Fort Sumter. She commenced erecting bat- 
teries, arraying cannon, prepaiing for war ; in effect, proclaiming 
herself at once our enemy. Seceding from the Union, taking Fort 
Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, driving your men, in fact, into Fort 
Sumter, I say were piratical acts of war. You need not talk to me 
about technicalities, and the distinction that you have got no war 
till Congress declares it. Congress could legalize it, or could make 
war, it is true ; but that was practical war. Who began it '{ Then, 
sir, if South Carolina secedes, withdraws from the Union, becomes 
our common enemy, is it not the duty, the constitutional duty of 
the Government, and of the President of the United States to make 
war, or to resist the attacks and assaults made by an enemy ? Is 
she not as much our enemy as Great Britain was in the revolution- 
ary struggle ? Is she not to-day as much our enemy as Great Britain 
was during the war of 1812 ? 



APPENDIX. 45 

In this connection I desire to read some remarks made by the 
Senator from Missouri (Mr. Polk) in his speech, the other day, in 
regard to this general idea of who made the war : 

" This has all been brought about since the adjournment of the 
last Congress— since the 4th of March ; indeed, since the 15th of 
April. Congress lx-s declared no war. The Constitution of the 
United Stales says 'that Congress shall be authorized to declare 
war ;' and yet, sir, though Congress has declared no war, we are in 
the midst of a war monstrous in its character, and hugely monstrous 
in its proportions. That war has been brought on by the President 
of the United States since the 4th of March, of his own motion and 
of his own wrong ; and under what circumstances ? Before the 
close of the last Congress, as early as the month of January, seces- 
sion was an accomplished fact. Before the close of the last Congress, 
as many States had seceded from the Union, or had claimed to 
secede, as had on the 15th of April ; and yet the last Congress made 
no declaration of war ; the last Congress passed no legislation cal- 
culated to carry on the war ; the last Congress refused to pass bills 
having this direction or having any purpose of coercion. Now, sir, 
how has this war been brought on ? I have said that, in my judg- 
ment, it has been brought on by the President of the United States, 
and a portion of the procedure which has resulted in it is named 
in the preamble of this joint resolution, which it is proposed that 
we shall approve and legalize." 

The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Powell) spoke in similar lan- 
guage. Alluding to the refusal of Kentucky to respond to the first 
call of the President for seventy-five thousand men, he said : 

" She 1 relieved that the calling forth of such an immense arma- 
ment was for the purpose of making a war of subjugation on the 
Southern States, and upon that ground she refused to furnish the 
regiments called for. The Senator seems to be a little offended at 
the neutrality of Kentucky. Sir, Kentucky has assumed a position 
of neutrality, and I only hope that she may be able to maintain it. 
She has assumed that position because there is no impulse of her 
patriotic heart that des : res her to imbrue her hands in a brother's 
blood, whether he be fre m the North or the South. Kentuckv looks 
upon this war as unholy, unrighteous, and unjust. Kentucky be- 
lieves that this war, if carried out, can result in nothing else than 
the total disruption of the Confederacy. She hopes, she wishes, she 
prays, that this Union may be maintained. She believes that can- 
not be done by force of arms ; that it must be done by compromise 
and conciliation if it can be clone at all ; and hence, being devoted 
truly to the Union, she desires measures of peace to be presented for 
the adjustment of our difficulties." 

I desire in this connection to place before the Senate the remarks 
of both the Senator from Kentucky and the Senator from Missouri, 
and to answer lie m at the same time. The Senator from Missouri 



46 APPEXDIX. 

says the war was brought on since the 4th of March by the Presi- 
dent of the United States of his own motion. The Senator from 
Kentucky (Mr. Powell) pronounces it an unjust, an unrighteous and 
an unholy war. 

But, sir, I commenced enumerating the facts with the view of 
showing who commenced the war. How do they stand ? I have 
just stated that South Carolina seceded — withdrew from the Con- 
federacy ; and in the very act of withdrawing, she makes practical 
war upon the Government, and becomes its enemy. The Star of the 
West, on the 7th of January, laden simply with provisions to sup- 
ply those starving men at Fort Sumter, attempted to enter the harbor, 
and was fired upon, and had to tack about, and leave the men in the 
tort to perish or do the best they could. We also find, that on the 
11th of April, General Beauregard had an interview with Major 
Anderson, and made a proposition to him to surrender. Major 
Anderson stated in substance, that he could do nu such thing ; that 
he could not strike the colors of his country, and refused to surren- 
der ; but he said, at the same time, that by the 15th of the month 
his provisions would give out, and if not reinforced and supplied 
starvation must take place. It seems that at this time Mr. Pryor, 
from Virginia, was in Charleston. The Convention of Virginia was 
sitting, and it was important that the cannon's roar should be heard 
in the land. Virginia was to be taken out of the Union, although 
a majority of the delegates in the Convention were elected against 
secession, and in favor of the Union. We find that after being in 
possession of the fact that by the 15th of the month the garrison 
would be starved out and compelled to surrender, on the morning 
of the 12th they commenced the bombardment, fired upon the fort 
and upon your men. They knew that in three days they would be 
compelled to surrender, but they wanted war. It was indispensable 
to produce an excitement in order to hurry Virginia out of the 
Union, and they commenced the war. The firing was kept up until 
such time as the fort was involved in smoke and flames, and Major 
Anderson and his men were compelled to lie on the floor with their 
wet handkerchiefs to their faces to save them from suffocation and 
death. Even in the midst of all this, they refused to cease their 
firing, but kept it up until he was compelled to surrender. 

Who, then commenced the war ? Who struck the first blow I 
Who violated the Constitution in the first place? Who trampled 
the law under foot, and violated the law morally and legally ? Was 
it not South Carolina in seceding ? And yet you talk about the 
President liming brought on the war by his own motion, when these 
fact3 are incontrovertible. No one dare attempt to assail them. 



APPENDIX. 47 

But after Fort Sumter was attacked and surrendered, what do we 
find stated in Montgomery when the news reached there ? Here is 
the telegraphic announcement of the reception of the news there : 

" Montgomery, Friday, April 12, 1861. 

"An immense crowd serenaded President Davis and Secretary 
Walker, at the Exchange Hotel to-night." 

Mr. Davis refused to address the audience, but his Secretary of 
War did. The Secretary of War, Mr. Walker, said : 

" No man could tell where the war this day commenced would 
end, but he would prophesy that the flag which now flaunts the 
breeze here would float over the old Capitol at Washington, before 
the 1st of May. Let them try Southern chivalry and test the extent 
of Southern resources, and it might float eventually over Faneuil 
Hall itself." 

What is the announcement ? We have attacked Fort Sumter and 
it has surrendered, and no one can tell where this war will end. By 
the 1st of May our flag will wave in triumph from the dome of the 
old Capitol at Washington, and ere long, perhaps, from Faneuil Hall 
in Boston. Then was this war commenced by the President on his 
own motion ? You say that the President of the United States did 
wrong in ordering out seventy-five thousand men, and in increasing 
the army and navy under the exigency. Do we not know, in con- 
nection with these facts, that so soon as Fort Sumter surrendered 
they took up the line of march for Washington ? Do not some of 
us who were here know that we did not even go to bed very confi- 
dently and securely, for the fear that the city would be taken before 
the rising sun ? Has it not been published in the Southern news- 
papers that Ben McCulloch was in readiness, with five thousand 
picked men, in the State of Virginia, to make a descent and attack 
the city, and take it ? 

What more do we find ? We find that the Congress of this same 
pseudo-republic, this same Southern Confederacy that has sprung up 
in the South, as early as the 6th of March passed a law preparing 
for this invasion — preparing for this war which they commenced. 
Here it is : 

" That in order to provide speedily forces to repel invasion, main- 
tain the rightful possession of the Confederate States of America in 
even' portion of territory belonging to each State, and to secure the 
public tranquility and independence against threatened assault, the 
President lie, and he is hereby, authorized to employ the militia, 
military, and naval forces of the Confederate States of America, and 
ask for and accept the services of an}' number of volunteers, not 
exceeding one hundred thousand." 



48 APPEXDIX. 

When your forts were surrendered, .and -when the President of the 
so-called Southern Confederacy was authorized to call out the entire 
militia, naval, and military forces, and then to receive in the service 
of the Confederate States one hundred thousand men, the President 
calls for seventy-five thousand men to defend the Capitol and the 
public property. Are we for the Government, or are we against it ? 
That is the question. Taking all the facts into consideration, do we 
not see that an invasion was intended ? It was even announced by 
Mr. Iverson upon this floor that ere long their Congress would be 
sitting here, and this Government would be overthrown. When the 
facts are all put together we see the scheme, and it is nothing more 
nor less than executing a programme deliberately made out ; and yet 
Senators hesitate, falter, and complain, and say the President has 
suspended the writ of habeas coq>us, increased the army and navy, 
and they ask, where was the necessity for all this ? With your forts 
taken, your men fired upon, your ships attacked at sea, and one hun- 
dred thousand men called into the field by this so-called Southern 
Confederacy, with the additional authority to call out the entire 
military and naval force of those States, Senators talk about the 
enormous call of the President for seventy-five thousand men and 
the increase he has made of the army and navy. Mr. President, it 
all goes to show, in my opinion, that the sympathies of Senators are 
with the one Government and against the other. Admitting that 
there was a little stretch of power ; admitting that the margin was 
pretty wide when the power was exercised, the query now comes, 
when you have got the power, when you are sitting here in a legis- 
lative attitude, are you willing to sustain the Government and give 
it the means to sustain itself? It is not worth while to talk about 
what has been done before. The question on any measure should 
be, is it necessary now ? If it is, it should not be withheld from 
the Government. 

Senators talk about violating the Constitution and the laws. A 
great deal has been said about searches and seizures, and the right 
of protection of persons and of papers. I reckon it is equally as 
important to protect a Government from seizure as it is an individual. 
I reckon the moral and the law of the case would be just as strong 
in seizing upon that which belonged to the Federal Government as 
it would upon that belonging to an individual. What belongs to 
us in the aggregate is protected and maintained by the same law. 
moral and legal, as that which applies to an individual. These 
rebellious States, after commencing this war, after violating the Con- 
stitution, seized our forts, our arsenals, our dock-yards, our custom- 
houses, our public buildings, our ships, and last, though not least, 



APPENDIX. 49 

plundered the independent treasury at New Orleans of $1,000,000. 
And yet Senators talk about violations of the law and the Constitu- 
tion. They say the Constitution is disregarded, and the Govern- 
ment is about to be overthrown. Does not this talk about violations 
of the Constitution and the law come with a beautiful grace from 
that side of the House ? I repeat again, Sir, are not violations of 
the Constitution necessary for its protection and vindication more 
tolerable than the violations of that sacred instrument aimed at the 
overthrow and destruction of the Government ? We have seen 
instances, and other instances might occur, where it might be indis- 
pensably necessary for the Government to exercise a power and to 
assume a position that was not clearly legal and constitutional, in 
order to resist the entire overthrow and upturning of the Govern- 
ment and all our institutions. 

But the President issued his proclamation. When did he issue it, 
and for what ? He issued his proclamation calling out seventy-five 
thousand men after the Congress of the so-called Southern Confed- 
eracy had passed a law to call out the entire militia, aud to receive 
into theh service one hundred thousand men. The President issued 
his proclamation after they had taken Fort Moultrie and Castle 
Pinckney ; after they had fired upon and reduced Fort Sumter. 
Fort Sumter was taken on the 12th. and on the 15th he issued his 
proclamation. Taking all these circumstances together, it showed 
that they intended to advance, and that their object -was to extend 
their power, to subjugate the other States, and to overthrow the 
Constitution and the laws of the Government. 

Senators talk about the violation of the Constitution. Have you 
heard any intimation of complaint from those Senators about this 
Southern Confederacy — this band of traitors to their country and 
country's institutions ? I repeat, substantially, the language of the 
Senator from Illinois (Mr. Browning) : " Have you heard any com- 
plaint or alarm about violatious of constitutional law on the ether 
side ? Oh, no I But Ave must stand still ; the Government must 
not move while they are moving with a hundred thousand men ; 
while they have the power to call forth the entire militia and the 
army and the navy. While they are reducing our forts, and robbing 
us of our property, we must stand still ; the Constitution and the 
laws must not be violated ; and an arraignment is made to weaken 
and paralyze the Government in its greatest peril and trial." 

On the 15th of April, the proclamation was issued calling out 
seventy-five thousand men, after the Confederate States had author- 
ized one hundred thousand men to be received by their President — 
this man Davis, who stood up here and made a retiring speech -a 



50 APrENDIX. 

man educated and nurtured by the Government ; who sucked its 
pap ; who received all his military instruction at the hands of this 
Government ; a man who got all his distinction, civil and military, 
in the service of this Government, beneath the Stars and Stripes, 
and then, without cause — without being deprived of a single right 
and privilege — the sword he unsheathed in vindication of that flag 
in a foreign land, given to him by the hand of his cherishing mother, 
he stands this day prepared to plunge into her bosom. Such men 
as these have their apologists here in Congress to excuse and exten- 
uate their acts, either directly or indirectly. You never hear from 
them of law or Constitution being violated down there. Oh, no ! 
that is not mentioned. 

On the loth, the President issued his proclamation calling seventy- 
five thousand men into the service of the United States, and on the 
17th, this same Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, issued a proclamation proposing or opening the door to the 
issuance of letters of marque and reprisal, and that, too, in violation 
of the pseudo-hermaphrodite Government that has been gotten up 
down there. In retaliation for the proclamation issued by the Presi- 
dent of the United States, he, in violation of the Constitution of 
this pseudo-confederacy, issued his proclamation proposing to issue 
letters of marque and reprisal. In other words, he proposed to 
<>pen an office and say, we will give out licenses to rob the citizens 
of the United States of all their property wherever it can be picked 
up upon the high seas. This he proposed to do, not only in viola- 
tion of the Constitution of the Confederate States, but in violation 
of the law of nations ; for no people — I care not by what name you 
call it — has a right to issue letters of marque and reprisal until its 
independence is first acknowledged as a separate and distinct power. 
iu-i that been done? I think, therefore, Senators can find some 
l:''..j ,'iolation of Constitution and law down there among thein- 
oe.ves. Sir, they have violated the law and the Constitution every 
step they progressed in going there, and now they violate it in 
trying to come this way. There was a general license offered, a 
premium offered, to every freebooter, to every man who wanted to 
plunder and play the pirate on the high seas, to come and take a 
commission, and plunder in the name of the Southern Confederacy ; 
to take, at that time, the property of Tennessee or the property of 
Kentucky — your beef, your pork, your flour, and every other product 
making its way to a foreign market. Mr. Davis authorized letters 
of marque and reprisal to pick them up and appropriate them. 
Alter that their Congress saw that he had gone ahead of their Con- 
stitution and the laws of nations, and they passed a law modifying 



APPENDIX. 51 

the issuance of letters of marque and reprisal, that they should prey 
upon the property of the citizens of the United States, excepting 
certain States — excepting Kentucky and Tennessee— holding that 
out as a bait, as an inducement to get them in. 

I do not think, therefore, when we approach the subject fairly 
a-.id squarely, that there was any very great wrong in the President 
of the United States, on the 19th, issuing his proclamation block- 
ading their ports, saying you shall not have the opportunity, so far 
as I can prevent it, of plundering and appropriating other people's 
property on the high seas % I think he did precisely what was right. 
He would have been derelict to his duty, and to the high behest of 
the American people, if he had set here and failed to exert every 
power within his reach and scope to protect the property of the 
United States on the high seas. 

Senators seem to think it is no violation of the Constitution to 
make war en your Government, and when its enemies are stationed 
in sight of the Capitol, there is no alarm, no dread, no scare, no 
fright. Some of us -n ould not feel so very comfortable if they were 
to get this city. I believe there are others who would not lie veiy 
much disturbed. I do not think I could sleep right sound if they 
were in possession of this city ; not that I believe I am more timid 
than most men, but I do not believe there would be much quarter 
for me ; and, by way of self-protection, and enjoying what few rights 
I have remaining, I expect it would be better, if they were in posses- 
sion of this city, for me to be located in some other point not too 
inconvenient or too remote. I believe there are others who would 
feel very comfortable here. 

Then. Mr. President, in tracing this subject along, I cannot see 
what great wrong has been committed by the Government in taking 
the course it has taken. I repeat again, this Government is now 
passing through its third ordeal ; and the time has arrived when it 
should put forth its entire power, and say to the rebels and traitors, 
wherever they are, that the supremacy of the Constitution, and laws 
made in pursuance thereof, shall be sustained ; that those citizens 
who have been borne down and tyrannized over, and who have had 
laws of treason passed against them in their own States, threatened 
with confiscation of property, shall be protected. I say it is the 
paramount duty of this Government to assert its power and main- 
tain its integrity. I say it is the duty of this Government to pre tect 
those States, or the loyal citizens of those States, in the enjoyment 
of a republican form of government, for we have seen one continued 
system of usurpation carried on from one end of these Southern 
States to the other, disregarding the popular judgment, disregarding 



52 APPENDIX. 

the popular will, setting at defiance the judgment of the people, 
disregarding their rights, paying no attention to their State Consti- 
tutions in any sense whatever. We are bound, under the Constitu- 
tion, to protect those States and their citizens. We are bound to 
guarantee to them a republican form of government ; it is our duty 
to do it. If we have no government, let the delusion be dispelled, 
let the dream pass away, and let the people of the United States, 
and the nations of the earth, know at once that we have no govern- 
ment. If we have a government, based on the intelligence and virtue 
of the American people, let that great fact be now established, and 
once established this Government will be on a more enduring and 
permanent basis than it ever was before. I still have confidence in 
the integrity, the virtue, the intelligence, and the patriotism of the 
great mass of the people ; and so believing, I intend to stand by the 
Government of my fathers to the last extremity. 

In the last Presidential contest, I am free to say that I took some 
part. I advocated the pretensions and claims of one of the distin- 
guished sons of Kentucky, as a Democrat. I am a Democrat to-day ; 
I expect to die one. My Democracy rests upon the great principle 
I have stated ; and in the support of measures, I have always tried 
to be guided by a conscientious conviction of right ; and I have 
laid down for myself, as a rule of action in all doubtful questions, 
to pursue principle ; and in the pursuit of a great principle I can 
never reach a wrong conclusion. 1 intend, in this case, to jmrsue 
principle. I am a Democrat, believing the principles of this govern- 
ment are democratic. It is based upon the democratic theory. I 
believe Democracy can stand, notwithstanding all the taunts and 
jeers that are thrown at it throughout the Southern Confederacy. 
The principles which I call Democracy — I care not by what name 
they are sustained, whether by Republicans, by Whigs, or not — are 
the great principles that lie at the foundation of this Government, 
and they will be maintained. We have seen that so far the experi- 
ment has succeeded well ; and now we should make an effort, in this 
last ordeal through which we are passing, to crush out the fatal 
doctrine of Secession, and those who are co-operating with it in the 
shape of rebels and traitors. 

I advocated the professions of a distinguished son of Kentucky, at 
the late election, for the reason that I believed he was a better Union 
man than any other candidate in the field. Others advocated the 
claims of Mr. Bell, believing him to be a better Union man ; others, 
those of Mr. Douglas. In the South we know that there was no 
Republican ticket. I was a Union man then ; I was a Union man 
in 1 833 ; I am a Union man now. And what has transpired since 



APPENDIX. 53 

the election in November last that has produced sufficient cause to 
break up this Government ? The Senator from California enumer- 
ated the facts up to the 25th day of May, 1860, when there was a 
vote taken in this body for the protection of slave property in the 
Territories. Now, from the 6th of November up to the 20th of 
December, tell me what transpired of sufficient cause to break up 
this Government ? "Was there any innovation, was there any addi- 
tional step taken in reference to the institution of slavery ? If the 
candidate whose claims I advocated had been elected President— I 
speak of him as a candidate, of course not meaning to be personal — 
I do believe this Government would have been broken up. If 
Stephen A. Douglas had been elected, I do not believe this Govern- 
ment would have been broken up. Why ? Because those who 
advocated the pretensions of Mr. Lincoln would have done as all 
parties have done heretofore : they would have yielded to the high 
behest of the American people. 

Then, is the mere defeat of one man, and the election of another 
according to the forms of law and the Constitution, sufficient cause 
to break up this Government ? No ; it is not sufficient cause. Do 
we not know, too, that if all the seceding Senators had stood here 
as faithful sentinels, representing the interests of their States, they 
had it in their power to check any advance that might be made by 
the incoming administration. I showed these facts, and enumerated 
them at the last session. They were shown here the other day. On 
the 4th of March, when President Lincoln was inaugurated, we had 
a majority of six upon this floor in opposition to his administration. 
Where, then, is there even a pretext for breaking up the Government, 
upon the idea that he would have encroached upon our rights ? 
Docs not the nation know that Mr. Lincoln could not made his Cabi- 
net without the consent of the majority of the Senate ? Do we not 
know that he could not even have sent a minister abroad without 
the majority of the Senate confirming the nomination ? Do we not 
know that if any minister whom he sent abroad should make a 
treaty inimical to the institutions of the South, that treaty could 
not have been ratified without a majority of two-thirds of the 
Senate ? 

With all these facts staring them in the face, where is the pretence 
for breaking up the Government ? Is it not clear that there has 
been a fixed purpose, a settled design, to break up the Government 
and change the nature and character, and whole genius of the 
Government itself? Does it not prove conclusively, as there 
was no cause, that they simply selected it as an occasion that was 
favorable to excite the prejudices of the South, and thereby en- 



54 APPENDIX. 

able them to break up this Government and establish a Southern 
Confederacy ? 

Then, when we get at it, what is the real cause ? If Mr. Breckin- 
ridge, or Mr. Davis, or some other favorite of those who are now 
engaged in breaking up the Government, had been elected President 
of the United States, it would have been a very nice thing ; they 
would have respected the judgment of the people, and no doubt 
their confidence in the capacity of the people for self-government 
would have been increased ; but it so happened that the people 
thought proper to elect somebody else, according to law and the 
Constitution. Then, as all parties had done heretofore, it was the 
duty of the whole people to acquiesce ; if he made a good President, 
sustain him ; if he became a bad one, condemn him : if he violated 
the law and the Constitution, impeach him. We had our remedy 
under the Constitution, and in the Uuion. 

"What is the real cause ? Disappointed ambition ; an unhallowed 
ambition. Certain men could not wait any longer, and they seized this 
occasion to do what they had been wanting to do for a Jong time — 
break up the Government, If they could not rule a large country, 
they thought they might rule a small one. Hence, one of the prime 
movers in the Senate ceased to be a Senator, and passed out to be 
President of the Southern Confederacy. Another, who was bold 
enough on this floor to proclaim himself a rebel, retired as a Senator, 
and became Secretary of State. All perfectly disinterested — no am- 
bition about it ! Another — Mr. Benjamin, of Louisiana — one who 
understands something about the idea of dividing garments ; who 
belongs to the tribe that parted the garments of our Saviour, and 
upon his vesture cast lots — went out of this body, and was made 
Attorney-General, to show his patriotism and disinterestedness — 
nothing else ! Mr. Slidell, disinterested altogether, is to go as Min- 
ister to France. I might enumerate many such instances. This is 
all patriotism, pure disinterestedness ! Do we not see where it all 
ends ? Disappointed, impatient, unhallowed ambition. There has 
been no cause for breaking up this Government ; there have been no 
rights denied, no privileges trampled upon under the Constitution 
and Union, that might not have been remedied more effectually in 
the Union than outside of it. What rights are to be attained outside 
of the Union? The seceders have violated the Constitution, tramp- 
led it under foot ; and what is their condition now ? Upon the ab- 
stract idea that they had a right to secede, they have gone out ; and 
what is the consequence? Oppression, taxation, blood, and civil 
war ! They have gone out of the Union ; and, I repeat again, they 
have got taxes, usurpations, blood, and civil war ! 



APPENDIX. 55 

I said just new that I had advocated the election to the Presidi 
of the distinguished Senator from Kentucky, on the ground that be 
was a good Union man. I wish we could now hear his eloquent 
voice in favor of the old Government of our fathers, and in vindica- 
tion of the Stars and Stripes that have been borne in triumph e\ i ry- 
where. I hold in my hand a document which was our text-book in 
the campaign. It is headed " Breckinridge and Lane Campaign Docu- 
ment, No. 16. "Who are the Disunionists : Breckinridge and Lane 
the true Union candidates." It contains an extract, which I -will 
read, from the Senator's address on the removal of the Senate from 
the old to the new chamber. I would to God he was as good a 
Union man to-day as I think he was then : 

" Such is our country ; ay, and more — far more than my mind 
could conceive, or my tongue could utter. Is there an American 
who regrets the past ? Is there one who will deride his country's 
laws, pervert her Constitution, or alienate her people I If there be 
such a man, let his memory descend to posterity laden with the exe- 
crations of all mankind Let us devoutly trust that another 

nate, in another age, shall bear to a new and larger chamber, this 
Constitution, vigorous and inviolate, and that the last generation of 
posterity shall witness the deliberations of the Representatives of 
American States still united, prosperous, and free." 

Now, this was the text — an extract from a speech of the Senator, 
after the nomination was made : 

'• When that Convention selected me as one of its candidates, look- 
ing at my humble antecedents and the place of my habitation, it 
gave to the country, so far as I was concerned, a personal and geo- 
graphical guaranty that its interest was in the Union." 

In addition to that, in Tennessee we headed our electoral ticket, 
as if to give unmistakeable evidence of our devotion to the Union, 
and the reason why we sustained him, " National Democratic ticket. 
' Instead of dissolving the Union, we intend to lengthen it and to 
strengthen it.' — Breckinridgey Where are his eloquent tones now ? 
They are heard arraigning the Administration for what he conceives 
to be premature action, in advance of the law, or a slight departure 
from the Constitution. Which is the most tolerable, premature ac- 
tion, action in advance of law, a slight departure from the Constitu- 
tion (putting it on his own ground), or an entire overthrow of the 
Government ? Are there no advances, are there no inroads, being 
made to-day upon the Constitution and the existence of the Govern- 
ment itself? Let us look at the question plainly and fairly. Here is 
an invading army almost within cannon-shot of the capital, headed 
by Jeff. Davis and Beauregard. Suppose they advance on the city 



56 APPEXDIX. 

to-night ; subjugate it ; depose the existing authorities ; expel the 
present Government: what kind of Government have you then ? Is 
there any Constitution in it ? Is there any law in it ? The Senator 
can stand here almost in sight of the enemy, see the citadel of free- 
dom — the Constitution — trampled upon, and there is no apprehen- 
sion ; but he can look with an eagle eye, and, with an analytic pro- 
cess, almost unsurpassed, discriminate against and attack those who 
are trying to manage your Government for its safety and preserva- 
tion. He has no word of condemnation for the invading army that 
threatens to overthrow the capital, that threatens to trample the 
Constitution and the law underfoot. I repeat, suppose Davis at the 
head of his advancing columns should depose your Government and 
expel your authority : what kind of government will you have ? Will 
there be any Constitution left ? How eloquent my friend was upon 
Constitutions ! He told us the Constitution was the measure of 
power, and that we should understand and feel constitutional re- 
straints; and yet when your Government is perhaps within a few 
hours of being overthrown, and the law and Constitution trampled 
under foot, there are no apprehensions on his part ; no words of re- 
buke for those who are endeavoring to accomplish such results. 

The Old Dominion has got the brunt of the war upon her hands. 
I sympathize with her most deeply, and especially with the loyal 
portion of her citizens, who have been brow-beaten and domineered 
over. Now the war is transferred to Virginia, and her plains are 
made to run with blood; and when this is secured, what do we hear 
in the far South ? Howell Cobb, another of these disinterested pa- 
triots, said not long since, in a speech in Georgia : 

" The people of the Gulf States need have no apprehensions ; they 
might go on with their planting and their other business as usual ; 
the war would not come to their section ; its theatre would be along 
the borders of the Ohio river and in Virginia." 

Virginia ought to congratulate herself upon that position, for she 
has got the war. Now they want to advance. Their plans and 
designs are to get across into Maryland, and carry on a war of subju- 
gation. There is wonderful alarm among certain gentlemen here at 
the term "subjugate." They are alarmed at the idea of making 
citizens who have violated the law simply conform to it by enforcing 
their obedience. If a majority of the citizens in a State have vio- 
lated the Constitution, have trampled it under foot and violated the 
law, is it subjugation to assert the supremacy of the Constitution and 
the law ? Is it any more than a simple enforcement of the law ? It 
would be one of the best subjugations that could take place if some 
of them were subjugated and brought back to the constitutional 



APPENDIX. 57 

position that they occupied before. I would to God that Tennessee 
stood to-day where she did three months ago. 

Mi'. President, it is provided in the Constitution of the United 
States that " no State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any 
duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter 
into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign 
power, or engage in war unless actually invaded, or in such imminent 
danger as will not admit of delay/' The State authorities of Ten- 
nessee, before her people had even voted upon an ordinance to sepa- 
rate her from the Union, formed a league by which they transferred 
fifty-five thousand men, the whole army, over to the Confederate 
States for the purpose of prosecuting their war. Is it not strange that 
such a palpable violation of the Constitution should not be referred 
to and condemned by any one ? Here is a member of the Union, 
without even having the vote taken upon an ordinance of separation 
or secession, forming a league, by its commissioners or ministers, and 
handing over fifty-five thousand men to make war upon the Govern- 
ment of the United States, though they were themselves then within 
the Union. No one seems to find fault with that. The fact is, that 
in the whole progress of secession, the Constitution and the law have 
been violated at every step from its incipiency to the present point. 
How have the people of my State been treated ? I know that this 
may not interest the Senate to any very great extent ; but I must 
briefly refer to it. The people of a portion of that State, having 
devotion and attachment to the Constitution and the Government 
as framed by the sires of the Revolution, still adhering to it, gave a 
majority of more than twenty thousand votes in favor of the Union 
at the election. After that, this portion of the State, East Tennessee, 
called a convention, and the convention published an address, in 
which they sum up some of the grievances which we have been bear- 
ing in that portion of the country. They say : 

" The Memphis Appeal, a prominent disunion paper, published a 
false account of our proceedings, under the head ' The Traitors in 
Council,' and styled us, who represent every county but two in East 
Tennessee, the little batch of disaffected traitors who hover around 
the noxious atmosphere of Andrew Johnson's home. Our meeting 
was telegraphed to the JVetc Orleans Delta, and it was falsely said 
that we had passed a resolution recommending submission if seventy 
thousand votes were not cast against secession. The dispatch added 
that ' the Southern Rights men are determined to hold possession of 
the State, though they should be in a minority.' " 

They had fifty-five thousand men and $5,000,000 to sustain them, 
the State authorities with them, and made the declaration that they 
intended to hold the State though they should be in a minority 
30 



58 APPEXDIX. 

This shows the advance of tyranny and usurpation. By way of show- 
ing the Senate some of the wrongs borne and submitted to by that 
people who are loyal to the Government — who have been deprived 
of the arms furnished by the Government for their protection — with- 
held by this little man Hams, the Governor of the State — I will read 
a few paragraphs from the address : 

" It has passed laws declaring it treason to say or do anything hi 
favor of the Government of the United States or against the Confed- 
erate States ; and such a law is now before, and we apprehend will 
soon be passed by, the Legislature of Tennessee. 

" It has involved the Southern States in a war- whose success is 
hopeless, and which must ultimately lead to the ruin of the people. 

" Its bigoted, overbearing, and intolerant spirit has already sub- 
jected the people of East Tennessee to many petty grievances ; our 
people have been insulted ; our flags have been fired upon and torn 
down ; our houses have been rudely entered ; our families have been 
subjected to insult; our peaceable meetings interrupted; our women 
and children shot at by a merciless soldiery ; our towns pillaged ; 
our citizens robbed, and some of them assassinated and murdered. 

" No effort has been spared to deter the Union men of East Tennes- 
see from the expression of their free thoughts. The penalties of 
treason have been threatened against them, and murder and assassin- 
ation have been openly encouraged by leading secession journals. As 
secession has been thus overbearing and intolerant while in the minor- 
ity in East Tennessee, nothing better can can be expected of the pre- 
tended majority than wild, unconstitutional, and oppressive legisla- 
tion ; an utter contempt and disregard of law, a determination to 
force every Union man in the State to swear to the support of a con- 
stitution he abhors, to yield his money and property to aid a cause 
he detests, and to become the object of scorn and derision, as well as 
the victim of intolerable aud relentless oppression." 

These are some of the wrongs that we are enduring in that section 
of Tennessee ; not near all of them, but a few which I have presented 
that the country may know what we are submitting to. Since I left 
my home, having only one way to leave the State, through two or 
three passes coming out through Cumberland Gap, I have been ad- 
vised that they had even sent their armies to blockade these passes 
in the mountains, as they say, to prevent Johnson from returning 
with arms and munitions to place in the hands of the people to vin- 
dicate their rights, repel invasion, and put down domestic insurrec- 
tion aud rebellion. Yes, sir, there they stand in arms, environing a 
population of three hundred and twenty-five thousand loyal, brave, 
patriotic, and unsubdued people ; but yet powerless, and not in a 
condition to vindicate their rights. Hence I come to the Govern- 
ment, and I do not ask it as a suppliant, but I demand it as a consti- 
tutional right, that you give us protection, give us arms and muni- 






APPENDIX. 59 

tions ; and if they cannot be got there in any other way, to take them 
there with an invading army, and deliver the people from the op- 
| ion to which they are now subjected. We claim to be the 
Stale. The other divisions may have seceded and gone off; and if 
this Government will stand by and permit those portions of the State 
to go off, and not enforce the laws and protect the loyal citizens there, 
we cannot help it ; but we still claim to be the State, and if two- 
thirds have fallen off, or have been sunk by an earthquake, it does 
not change our relation to this Government. If the Government will 
let them go and not give us protection, the fault is not ours ; but if 
you give us protection we intend to stand as a State, as a part of this 
Confederacy, holding to the Stars and Stripes, the flag of our coun- 
try. "We demand it according to law ; we demand it upon the guar- 
antees of the Constitution. You are bound to guarantee to us a 
republican form of government, and we ask it as a constitutional 
right. We do not ask you to interfere as a party, as your feelings or 
prejudices may be one way or auother in reference to the parties of 
the country ; but we ask you to interfere as a Government, according 
to the Constitution. Of course we want your sympathy, and your 
regard, and your respect ; but we ask your interference on constitu- 
tional grounds. 

The amendments to the Constitution, which constitute the Bill of 
Rights, declare that "a well-regulated miritia being necessary to the 
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear 
arms shall not be infringed." Our people are denied this right se- 
cured to them in their own Constitution and the Constitution of the 
United States ; yet we hear no complaints here of violations of the 
Constitution in this respect. We ask the Government to interpose 
to secure us this Constitutional right. We want the passes in our 
mountains opened, we want deliverance and protection for a down- 
trodden and oppressed people who are struggling for their independ- 
ence without arms. 

If we had had ten thousand stand of arms and ammunition, when 
the contest commenced, we should have asked no further assistance. 
We have not got them. We are a rural people ; we have villages 
and small towns — no large cities. Our population is homogeneous, 
industrious, frugal, brave, independent; but now harmless, and 
powerless, and oppressed by usurpers. You may be too late in com- 
ing to our relief; or you may not come at all, though I do not doubt 
that you will come ; they may trample us under foot ; they may con- 
vert our plains into graveyards, and the caves of our mountains into 
sepulchres; but they will never take us out of this Union, or make 
us a land of slaves — no, never ! We intend to stand as firm as ada- 



60 APPEXDIX. 

inant, and as unyielding as our own majestic mountains that sur 
round us. Yes, we will be as fixed and as immovable as are they 
upon their bases. We will stand as long as we can ; and if we are 
overpowered and liberty shall be driven from the land, we intend 
before she departs to take the flag of our country, with a stalwart 
arm, a patriotic heart, and an honest tread, and place it upon the 
summit of the loftiest and most majestic mountain. We intend to 
plant it there, and leave it, to indicate to the inquirer who may come, 
in after times, the spot where the Goddess of Liberty lingered and 
wept for the last time, before she took her flight from a people once 
prosperous, free, and happy. 

We ask the Government to come to our aid. We love the Consti- 
tution as made by our fathers. We have confidence in the integrity 
and capacity of the people to govern themselves. We have lived 
entertaining these opinions ; we intend to die entertaining them. 
The battle has commenced. The President has placed it upon the 
true ground. It is an issue on the one hand for the people's Govern- 
ment, and its overthrow on the other. We have commenced the 
battle of freedom. It is freedom's cause. We are resisting usurpa- 
tion and oppression. We will triumph ; we must triumph. Right 
is with us. A great and fundamental principle of right, that lies at 
the foundation of all things, is with us. We may meet with impedi 
ments, and may meet with disasters, and here and there a defeat ; 
but ultimately freedom's cause must triumph, for— 

" Freedom's battle once begun, 
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, 
Though baffled oft, is ever won." 

Yes, we must triumph. Though sometimes I cannot see my way 
clear in matters of this kind, as in matters of religion, when my 
facts give out, when my reason fails me, I draw largely upon my 
faith. My faith is strong, based on the eternal principles of right, 
that a thing so monstrously wrong as this rebellion cannot triumph. 
Can we submit to it ? Is the Senate, are the American people, pre- 
pared to give up the graves of Washington and Jackson, to be en- 
circled and governed and controlled by a combination of traitors and 
rebels ? I say, let the battle go on — it is freedom's cause — until the 
Stars and Stripes (God bless them !) shall again be unfurled upon 
every cross-road, and from every house-top throughout the Confed- 
eracy, North and South. Let the Union be reinstated ; let the law 
be enforced ; let the Constitution be supreme. 

If the Congress of the United States were to give up the tombs of 
Washington and Jackson, we should have rising up in our midst 



APPENDIX. 01 

another Peter the Hermit, in a much more righteous cause — for ours 
is true, while his was a delusion— who would appeal to the American 
people, and point to the tombs of Washington and Jackson, in the 
possession of those who are worse than the infidel and the Turk who 
held the Holy Sepulchre. I believe the American people would start 
of their own accord, when appealed to, to redeem the graves of 
Washington and Jackson and Jefferson, and all the other patriots 
who are lying within the limits of the Southern Confederacy. I do 
not believe they would stop the march until again the flag of this 
Union would be placed over the graves of those distinguished men. 
There will be an uprising. Do not talk about Republicans now ; do 
not talk about Democrats now ; do not talk about Whigs or Ameri- 
cans now ; talk about your country and the Constitution and the 
Union. Save that ; preserve the integrity of the Government ; once 
more place it erect among the nations of the earth ; and then if we 
want to divide about questions that may arise in our midst, we have 
a Government to divide in. 

I know it has been said that the object of this war is to make war 
on Southern institutions. I have been in free States and I have been 
in slave States ; and I thank God that, so far as I have seen, there 
has been one universal disclaimer of any such purpose. It is a war 
upon no section ; it is a war upon no peculiar institution ; but it is a 
war for the integrity of the Government, for the Constitution and the 
supremacy of the laws. That is what the nation understands by it. 

The people whom I represent appeal to the Government and to 
the nation to give us the constitutional protection that ;ed. I 

am proud to say that I have met with every manifestation of that 
kind in the Senate, with only a few dissenting voices. I am proud 
to say, too, that I believe Old Kentucky (God bless her!) will ulti- 
mately rise and shake off the stupor which has been resting upon 
her; p.nd instead of denying us the privilege of passing through her 
borders, and taking arms and munitions of war to enable a down- 
trodden people to defend themselves, will not only give us that priv- 
ilege, but will join us and help us in the work. The people of Ken- 
tucky love the Union ; they love the Constitution ; they have no 
fault to find with it ; but in that State they have a duplicate to thy 
Governor of ours. When we look all around, we see how the Gov- 
ernors of the different States have been involved in this conspiracy — 
the most stupendous and gigantic conspiracy that was ever forme 1, 
and as corrupt and as foul as that attempted by Catiline in the d 
of Rome. We know it to be so. Have we not known men to sit at 
their desks in this chamber, using the Government's stationery to 
write treasonable letters ; and while receiving their pay, sworn to 



62 APPENDIX. 

support the Constitution and sustain the law, engaging in midnight 
conclaves to devise ways and means by which the Government and 
the Constitution should be overthrown ? The charge was made and 
published in the papers. Many things we know that we cannot put 
our fingers upon ; but we know from the regular steps that were 
taken in this work of breaking up the Government, or trying to 
break it up, that there was system, concert of action. It is a scheme 
more corrupt than the assassination planned and conducted by Cati- 
line in reference to the Roman Senate. The time has arrived when 
we should show to the nations of the earth that we are a nation capa- 
ble of preserving our existence, and give them evidence that we will 
do it. 

T have already detained the Senate much longer than I intended 
when I rose, and I shall conclude in a few words more. Although 
the Government has met with a little reverse within a short distance 
of this city, no one should be discouraged and no heart should be 
dismayed. It ought only to prove the necessity of bringing forth 
and exerting still more vigorously the power of the Government in 
maintenance of the Constitution and the laws. Let the energies of 
the Government be redoubled, and let it go on with this war — not a 
war upon sections, not a war upon peculiar institutions anywhere ; 
but let the Constitution and the Union be its frontispiece, and the 
supremacy and enforcement of the laws its Watchword. Then it can, 
it will, go on triumphantly. "We must succeed. This Government 
must not, cannot fall. Though your flag may have trailed in the 
dust ; though a retrograde movement may have been made ; though 
the banner of our country may have been sullied, let it still be borne 
onward ; and if, for the prosecution of this war in behalf of the Gov- 
ernment and the Constitution, it is necessary to cleanse and purify 
the banner, I say, let it be baptized in fire from the sun and bathed 
in a nation's blood ! The nation must be redeemed ; it must be tri- 
umphant. The Constitution — which is based upon principles immu- 
table, and upon which rest the rights of man and the hopes and 
expectations of those who love freedom throughout the civilized 
world — must be maintained. 



APPENDIX. G3 



Speech on the Proposed Expulsion of Mr. Bright ; delivered 
in the Senate of the United States, January 31, 1862. 

The Senate resumed the consideration of the following resolution, 
submitted by Mr. Wilkinson on the 16th of December 1861 and 
which had been reported upon adversely by the Committee on the 
Judiciary : 

" Whereas, Hon. Jesse D. Bright heretofore, on the 1st day of March, 
1861, wrote a letter, of which the following is a copy : 

" My Dear Sir, — Allow me to introduce to your acquaintance 
my friend Thomas B. Lincoln, of Texas. He visits your capitol 
mainly to dispose of what he regards a great improvement in fire- 
arms. I recommend him to your favorable consideration as a gentle- 
man of the first respectability, and reliable in every respect. 

" Very trulv, yours, 

"JESSE D. BRIGHT. 
" To His Excellency Jefferson Davis, 

" President of the Confederation of States." 

" And whereas. We believe the said letter is evidence of disloyalty 
to the United States, and is calculated to give aid and comfort to 
the public enemies ; therefore, 

"Be it resolved, That the said Jesse D. Bright is expelled from his 
seat in the Senate of the United States." 

Mr. Johnson : Mr. President, when this resolution for the expul- 
sion of the Senator from Indiana was first presented to the considera- 
tion of the Senate, it was not my intention to say a single word 
upon it. Presuming that action would be had upon it at a very 
early day, I intended to content myself with casting a silent vote. 
But the question has assumed such a shape that, occupying the 
position I do, I cannot consent to record my vote without giving 
some of the reasons that influence my action. 

I am no enemy of the Senator from Indiana. I have no per- 
sonally unkind feelings towards him. I never had any, and have 
none now. So far as my action on this case is concerned, it will be 
controlled absolutely and exclusively by public considerations, and 
with no reference to partisan or personal feeling. I know that since 
the discussion commenced, an intimation has been thrown out, 
which I was pained to hear, that there was a disposition on the part 
of some to hound down the Senator from Indiana. Sir, I know that 
I have no disposition to " hound " any man. I would to God it 
were otherwise than necessary for me. as I think, to say a single 



64 APPENDIX. 

word upon the question, or even to be compelled to cast a vote upon 
it. So far as I know, there has never been any unkind feeling 
between the Senator and myself from the time we made our advent 
into public life down to this moment. Although party and party 
associations, and party considerations influence all of us more or less 
— and I do not pretend to be exonerated from the influence of party 
more than others — I know, if I know myself, that no such considera- 
tions influence me now. Not many years ago there was a contest 
before the Senate as to his admission as a Senator from the State of 
Indiana ; we all remember the struggle that took place. I will not 
s.iy that the other side of the House were influenced by party con- 
siderations when the vote upon that question of admission took 
place ; but if my memory serves me correctly, there was upon one 
side of the Chamber a nearly strict party vote that he was not 
entitled to his seat, while on the other side his right was sustained 
entirely by a party vote. I was one of those who voted for the 
Senator's admission to a seat upon this floor under the circum- 
stances. I voted to let him into the Senate, and I am constrained 
to say that, before his term has expired, I am compelled to vote to 
expel him from it. In saying this, I repeat, that if I know myself, 
and I think I do as well as ordinary men know themselves, I cast 
this vote upon public considerations entirely, and not from party or 
personal feeling. 

Mr. President, I hold that under the Constitution of the United 
States we clearly have the power to expel a member, and that, too, 
without our assuming the character of a judicial body. It is not 
ary to have articles of impeachment preferred by the other 
House ; it is not necessary to organize ourselves into a court for the 
purpose of trial ; but the principle is broad and clear, inherent in 
the very organization of the body itself, that we have the power 
and the right to expel any member from the Senate whenever wc 
deem that the public interests are unsafe in his hands, and that he is 
unfit to be a member of the body. "We all know, and the country 
understands, that provision of the Constitution which confers this 
power upon the Senate. Judge Story, in commenting upon the case 
of John Smith, in connection with the provision of the Constitution 
to which I have referred, used the following language : 

" The precise ground of the failure of the motion does not appear ; 
but it may be gathered, from the arguments of his counsel, that it 
did not turn upon any doubt that the power of the Senate extended 
to cases of misdemeanor not done in the presence or view of the 
body ; but most probably it was decided upon some doubt as to the 
facts. It may be thought difficult to draw a clear line of distinction 
between the right to inflict the punishment of expulsion and any 



APPENDIX. 05 

other punishment upon a member, founded on the time, place, or 
nature of the offense. The power to expel a member is not in the 
British House of Commons confined to offenses committed by the 
party as a member, or during the session of Parliament ; but it 
extends to all cases where the offense is such as, in the judgment of 
the House, unfits him for parliamentary duties." — Story's Commen- 
taries on the Constitution, Sec. 836. 

The rule in the House of Commons was undoubtedly in the view 
of the framers of our Constitution ; and the question is, has the 
member unfitted himself, has he disqualified himself, in view of the 
extraordinary condition of the country, from discharging the duties 
of a Senator ? Looking at his connection with the Executive ; look- 
ing at the condition, and, probably, the destinies of the country, we 
are to decide— without prejudice, without passion, without excite- 
ment — can the nation and does the nation have confidence in com- 
mitting its destinies to the Senator from Indiana, and others who 
are situated like him ? 

If we were disposed to bring to our aid, and were willing to rely 
upon, the public judgment, what should we find ? When you pass 
through the country, the common inquiry is, " Why has not Senator 
Bright, and why have not others like him, been expelled from the 
Senate ?" I have had the question asked me again and again. I do 
not intend, though, to predicate my action as a Senator upon what 
maybe simply rumor and popular clamor or popular indignation ; 
but still it is not often the case that, when there is a public judg- 
ment formed in reference to any great question before the country, 
that public judgment is not well founded, though it is true there 
are sometimes exceptions. 

Having shown our power in the premises to be clear according to 
the general authority granted by the Constitution and the broad 
principle stated by Judge Story in its elucidation, I next turn my 
attention to the case itself. The Senator from Indiana is charged 
with having written a letter on the 1st of March last to the chief of 
the rebellion, which is the basis of this proceeding against him. 
What was the condition of the country at the time that letter was 
written ? Did war then exist or not ? for really that is the great 
point in the case. On that point, allow me to read an extract from 
the charge of Judge David A. Smalley, to the grand jury of the 
United States district court for the Southern district of New York, 
published in the National Intelligencer of January 21, 1801 : 

" It is well known that war, civil war, exists in portions of the 
Union ; that persons owing allegiance to the United States have 
confederated together, and with arms, by force and intimidation, 
have prevented the execution of the constitutional acts of Congress, 



66 APPENDIX. 

have forcibly seized upon and hold a custom-house and post-office, 
forts, arsenals, vessels, and other property belonging to the United 
States, and have actually fired upon vessels bearing the United States 
flag and carrying United States troops. This is a usurpation of the 
authority of the Federal Government ; it is high treason by levying 
war. Either one of those acts -will constitute high treason. There 
can be no doubt of it." 

The judge here defines high treason, and he goes on to say : 

" What amounts to adhering to and giving aid and comfort to 
our enemies, it is somewhat difficult in all cases to define ; but cer- 
tain it is that furnishing them with arms " — 

It really seems that, by some kind of intuition, the judge had in 
his mind the precise case now under our consideration, and had 
anticipated it last January — 

" certain it is that furnishing them with arms or munitions of war, 
vessels or other means of transportation, or any materials which will 
aid the traitors in carrying out their traitorous purposes, with a 
knowledge that they are intended for such purposes, or inciting and 
encouraging others to engage in or aid the traitors in any way, does 
come within the provisions of the act." 

In this view, even if we were sitting as a court, bound by the 
rules and technicalities of judicial proceedings, should we not be 
bound to hold that this case comes within this legal definition. 
" And it is immaterial," adds Judge Smalley, " whether such acts 
are induced by sympathy with the rebellion, hostility to the Govern- 
ment, or a design for gain." 

In view of these authorities, let us look at the letter. It was 
written on the 1st of March, 1861. The opinion of Judge Smalley 
was published in the Intelligencer of the 21st of January, 1861, and 
must, of course, have been delivered before that time. It would be 
doing the Senator's intelligence great injustice to presume that he 
was not as well informed on the subject as the judge was who was 
charging the grand jury in reference to an act of Congress passed at 
an early day in the history of the Government. It would be doing 
him great injustice to suppose that he was not familiar with the 
statute. It would be doing him great injustice to suppose that he 
had not observed the fact that the attention of the country was 
being called by the courts to the treason that was raispant through- 
out the land. The letter complained of is as follows : 

""Washington, March 1, 1861. 

" My Dear Sir,— Allow me to introduce to your acquaintance my 
friend, Thomas B. Lincoln, of Texas. He visits your capital mainly 



APPENDIX. 67 

to dispose of what lie regards a great improvement in firearms. I 
recommend Mm to your favorable consideration as a gentleman of 
the first respectability, and reliable in every respect. 

" Very truly yours, JESSE D. BRIGHT. 

" To His Excellency Jefferson Davis, 

" President of the Confederation of States." 

According to the charge of Judge Smalley, which I have already 
read, the flag of the United States had been fired upon before the 
21st of January, 1861, and war then did in fact exist. When the 
rebels were taking our forts ; when they were taking possession of 
our post-offices ; when they were seizing our custom-houses ; when 
they were taking possession of our mints and the depositories of the 
public money, can it be possible that the Senator from Indiana did 
not know that war existed, and that rebellion was going on ? It 
is a fact that the ordinance of the convention of Texas seceding 
from the Union and attaching herself to the Southern Confederacy, 
was dated back as far as the 1st of February, 1861. Then, at the 
time the letter was written, Thomas B. Lincoln was a citizen of a 
rebel State ; a traitor and a rebel himself. He comes to the Senator 
asking him to do what ? To write a letter by which he could be 
facilitated in his scheme of selling an improved firearm, an imple- 
ment of war and of death. Can there be any mistake about it ? 
He asks for a letter recommending an improved firearm to the Presi- 
dent of the rebel States, who was then in actual war ; the man who 
asked for this being himself from a State that was in open rebellion, 
and he himself a traitor. 

Now, sir, if we were a court, how would the case be presented ? 
I know the Constitution says that " no person shall be convicted of 
treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt 
act, or on confession in open court." Here is an overt act ; it is 
shown clearly and plainly. We have the Senator's confession in 
open Senate that he did write the letter. Shall we with this discre- 
tion, in view of the protection of this body and the safety of the 
Government, decide the case upon special pleas, or hunt up techni- 
calities by which the Senator can escape, as you would quash an 
indictment in a criminal court ? The case of John Smith has already 
been stated to the Senate. A true bill had been found against him 
for his connection with Burr's treason, but upon a technicality, the 
proof not being made out according to the Constitution, and Burr 
having been tried first and acquitted, the bill against Smith was 
quashed, as he was only an accomplice. He was, therefore, turned 
out of court ; the proceedings against him were quashed upon a 
technicality ; but John Smith was a Senator, and he came here to 



6S APPENDIX. 

this body. He came again to take his seat in the Senate of the 
United States, and what did the Senate do ? They took up his case ; 
they investigated it. Mr. Adams made a report, able, full, complete. 
I may say he came well nigh exhausting the whole subject. The 
committee reported a resolution for his expulsion, and how did the 
vote stand ? It is true that Mr. Smith was not expelled for the want 
of some little formality in this body, the vote standing 19 to 10. 
It only Licked one vote to put him out by a two-third majority 
; ccording to the requirements of the Constitution. What was the 
[judgment of the nation ? It was that John Smith was an accom- 
plice of Burr, and the Senate condemned him and almost expelled 
him, not narrowing itself down to those rules and technicalities that 
are resorted to in courts by which criminals escape. To show the 
grounds upon which the action in that case was based, I beg leave 
to read some extracts from Mr. John Quincy Adams' report in that 
case : 

" In examining the question whether these forms of judicial pro- 
ceedings, or the rules of judicial evidence ought to be applied to 
the exercise of that censorial authority which the Senate of the 
States possesses over the conduct of its members, let us assume as 
the test of their application either the dictates of unfettered reason, 
the letter and spirit of the Constitution, or precedents domestic or 
foreign, and your committee believe that the result will be same: 
that the power of expelling a member must in its nature be discre- 
tionary, and in its exercise always more summary than the tardy 
process of judicial proceedings. 

" The power of expelling a member for misconduct results, on the 
principles of common sense, from the interests of the nation that 
the high trust of legislation should be invested in pure hands. 
When the trust is elective, it is not to be presumed that the consti- 
tuent body will commit the deposit to the keeping of worthless 
characters. But when a man, whom his fellow citizens have honored 
with their confidence on the pledge of spotless reputation, has de- 
graded himself by the commission of infamous crimes, which become 
suddenly and unexpectedly revealed to the world, defective, indeed, 
would be that institution which should be impotent to discard from 
its bosom the contagion of such a member ; which should have no 
remedy of amputation to apply until the poison had reached the heart." 

" But when a member of a legislative body lies under the impu- 
tation of gravated offenses, and the determination upon his case can 
operate only to remove him from a station of extensive pow T ers and 
important trust, this disproportion between the interest of the public 
and the interest of the individual disappears; if any disproportion 
exists, it is of an opposite kind. It is not better that ten traitors 
should be members of this Senate, than that one innocent man should 
sutler expulsion. In either case, no doubt, the evil would be great ; 



APPEXDIX. G9 

but in the former, it would strike at the vitals of the nation ; in the 
latter it might, though deejay to be lamented, only be the calamity 
of an individual." 

" Yet in the midst of all this anxious providence of legislative 
virtue, it has not authorized the constituent body to recall in any 
case its representative. It has not subjected him to removal by im- 
peachment ; and when the darling of the people's choice has become 
their deadliest foe, can it enter the imagination of a reasonable man, 
that the sanctuary of their legislation must remain polluted with his 
presence, until a court of common law, with its pace of a snail, can 
ascertain whether his crime was committed on the right or on the 
left bank of a river ; whether a puncture of difference can be found 
between the words of the charge and the words of the proof; 
whether the witnesses of his guilt should or should not be heard by 
his jury ; and whether he was punishable, because present at an 
overt act, or intangible to public justice because he only contrived 
and prepared it ? Is. it conceivable that a traitor to that country 
which has loaded him with favors, guilty to the common under- 
standing of all mankind, should be suffered to return unquestioned 
to that post of honor and confidence where, in the zenith of his 
good fame, he had been placed by the esteem of countrymen, and in 
defiance of their wishes, in mockery of their fears, surrounded by 
the public indignation, but inaccessible to its bolt, pursue the pur- 
poses of treason in the heart of the national councils ? Must the 
assembled rulers of the land listen with calmness and indifference, 
session after session, to the voice of notorious infamy, until the 
sluggard step of municipal justice can overtake his enormities ? 
Must they tamely see the lives and fortunes of millions, the safety 
of present and future ages, depending upon his vote, recorded with 
theirs, merely because the abused benignity of general maxims may 
have remitted to him the forfeiture of his life ?" 

" Such, in very supposable cases, would be the unavoidable conse- 
quences of a principle which should offer the crutches of judicial 
tribunals as an apology for crippling the congressional power of 
expulsion. Far different, in the opinion of your committee, is the 
spirit of our Constitution. They believed that the very purpose for 
which this power was given was to preserve the Legislature from the 
first approaches of infection ; that it was made discretionary because 
it could not exist under the procrastination of general rules. That 
its process must be summary because it would be rendered nugatory 
by delay." 

Mr. President, suppose Aaron Burr had been a senator, and after 
his acquittal he had come back here to take his seat in the Senate 
what would have been clone ? According to the doctrine avowed in 
this debate, that we must sit as a court and subject the individual 
to all the rules and technicalities of criminal proceedings, could he 
have been expelled ? And yet is there a Senator here who would 
have voted to allow Aaron Burr to take a seat in the Senate after his 



70 APPENDIX. 

acquittal by a court and jury ? No ; there is not a Senator hero 
■who would have done it. Aaron Burr was tried in court, and he 
was found not guilty; he was turned loose; but was the public 
judgment of this nation less satisfied of his guilt than if he had not 
been acquitted ? What is the nation's judgment, settled and fixed ? 
That Aaron Burr was guilty of treason, notwithstanding he was 
acquitted by a court and jury. 

It is said by some Senators that the Senator from Indiana wrote 
this letter simply as a letter of friendship. Sir, just think of it ! A 
Senator of the United States was called upon to write a letter for a 
rebel, for a man from a rebel State, after the courts of the country 
had pronounced that civil war existed ; after the judicial tribunals 
had defined what aiding and adhering to the enemies of the coun- 
try was ! Under such circumstances, what would have been the 
course of loyalty and of patriotism ? Suppose a man who had been 
your friend, sir, who had rendered you many acts of kindnef^, had 
come to you for such a letter. You would have asked where he was 
going with it. You would have said : " Here is a Southern Confed- 
eracy ; there is a rebellion ; my friend, you cannot ask me to write 
a letter to anybody there ; they are at war wdth the United States ; 
they are at war with my Government ; I cannot write you a letter 
giving you aid and assistance in selling your improved firearm 
there." Why ? " Because that firearm may be used against my 
own country and against my own fellow-citizens." Would not that 
have been the language of a man who was willing to recognize his 
obligations of duty to his country ? 

What was the object of writing the letter ? It certainly was to 
aid, facilitate the selling of his firearms, to inspire the rebel chief 
with confidence in the individual. It was saying, substantially, " I 
know this man ; I write to you because I know you have confidence 
in me ; I send him to you because I know you need firearms ; you 
need improved firearms ; you need the most deadly and destructive 
weapons of warfare to overcome this great and glorious country ; 
I recommend him to you, and I recommend his firearms ; he is a man 
in whom entire confidence may be placed." That, sir, is the letter. 
I have already shown the circumstances under which it was written. 
If such a letter had been written in the purest innocence of inten- 
tion, with no treasonable design, with no desire to injure his own 
Government, yet, in view of all the circumstances, in view of the 
facts which had transpired, a Senator who would be so unthought- 
ful, and so negligent, and so regardless of his country's interests as 
to write such a letter, is not entitled to a seat on this fioor. [Ap- 
plause in the galleries.] 



APPENDIX. 71 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Sherman) : Order ! Order ! 

Mr. Johnson: Then, Mr. President, what has been the hearing 
and the conduct of the Senator from Indiana since ? I desire it to 
be understood that I refer to him in no unkindness, for God knows 
I bear him none; but my duty I will perform. "Duties are mine, 
consequences are God's." What has been the Senator's bearing 
generally? Have you heard of his being in the field? Have you 
heard of his voice and his influence being raised for his bleeding 
and distracted country ? Has his influence been brought to bear 
officially, socially, politically, or in any respect, for the suppression 
of the rebellion ? If so, I am unaware of it. Where is the evidence 
of devotion to his country in his speeches and in his votes ? Where 
the evidence of the disposition on his part to overthrow and put 
down the rebellion ? I have been told, Mr. President, by honorable 
gentlemen, as an evidence of the Senator's devotion to his country 
and his great opposition to this Southern movement, that they heard 
him, and perhaps with tears in his eyes, remonstrate with the leaders 
of the rebellion that they should not leave him here in the Senate, 
or that they should not persist in their course after the relations that 
had existed between them and him, and the other Democrats of the 
country ; that he thought they were treating him badly. This was 
the kind of remonstrance he made. Be it so. I am willing to give 
the Senator credit for all he is entitled to, and would to God I could 
credit him with more. 

But do Senators remember that when this battle was being fought 
in the Senate I stood here on this side, solitary and alone, on the 19th 
day of December, 1860, and proclaimed that the Government was 
at an end if you denied it the power to enforce its laws ? I declared 
then that a Government which had not the power to coerce obe- 
dience on the part of those who violated the law was no Govern- 
ment at all, and had failed to carry out the objects of its creation, 
and was, ipso facto, dissolved. When I stood on this floor and 
fought the battle for the supremacy of the Constitution and the 
enforcement of the laws, has the Senate forgotten that a bevy of 
conspirators gathered in from the other House, and those who were 
here crowded around, with frowns and scowls, and expressions of 
indignation and contempt toward me, because I dared to raise my 
feeble voice in vindication of the Constitution and the enforcement 
of the laws of the Union ? Have you forgotten the taunts, the jeers, 
the derisive remarks, the contemptuous expressions that were in- 
dulged in ? If you have, I have not. If the Senator felt such great 
reluctance at the departure from the Senate of the chiefs of the 
rebellion, I should have been glad to receive one encouraging smile 



12 APPENDIX. 

from him when I was fighting the battles of the country. I did net 
receive one encouraging expression ; I received not a single sustain- 
ing look. It would have been peculiarly encouraging to me, undei 
the circumstances, to be greeted and encouraged by one of the Sena- 
tor's talents and long standing in public life ; but he was cold as as 
iceberg, and I stood solitary and alone amidst the gang of conspira- 
tors that had gathered around me. So much for the Senator's re- 
monstrances and expressions of regret for the retirement of thoso 
gentlemen. 

The bearing of the Senator since he wrote this letter has not been 
unobserved. I have not compared notes ; I have not hunted up the 
record in reference to it ; but I have a perfect recollection of it. 
Did we not see, during the last session of Congress, the line being 
drawn between those who were devoted to the Union and those who 
were not ? Cannot we sometimes see a great deal more than is ex- 
pressed ? Does it require us to have a man's sentiments written 
down in burning and blazing characters, before we are able to judge 
what they are ? Has it not been observable all through this history 
where the true Union heart has stood ? "What was the Senator's 
bearing at the last session of Congress ? Do we not know that in 
the main he stood here opposed substantially to every measure which 
was necessary to sustain the Government in its trial and peril ? He 
may perhaps have voted for some measures that were collateral, 
remote, indirect in their bearing ; but do we not know that his vote 
and his influence were cast against the measures which were abso- 
lutely necessary in order to sustain the Government in its hour of 
peril ? 

Some gentlemen have said, and well said, that we should not 
judge by party. I say so, too. I voted to let the Senator from 
Indiana into the body, and as a Democrat my bias and prejudice 
would rather be in his favor. I am a Democrat now ; I have been 
one all my life ; I expect to live and die one ; and the comer-stone 
of my Democracy rests upon the enduring basis of the Union. 
Democrats may come and go, but they shall never divert me from 
the polar star by which I have ever been guided from early life— the 
great principles of Democracy upon which this Government rests, 
which cannot be carried out without the preservation of the Union 
of these States. The pretence hitherto employed by many who are 
now in the traitors' camp has been, " we are for the Union ; we are 
not for dissolution ; but we are opposed to coercion." How long, 
Senators, have you heard that syren song sung ? Where are now 
most of those who sang those syren tones to us ? Look back to the 
last session, and inqure where now are the men who then were sing- 



APPEXDIX. 73 

ing that song in our ears ? Where is Trusten Polk, who then stood 
here so gently craving for peace ? He is in the rebel camp. Where 
is John C. Breckinridge— a man for -whose promotion to the Presi- 
dency I did what I could physically, mentally, and pecuniarily ; but 
when he satisfied me that he was for breaking up this Government, 
and would ere long be a traitor to his country, I dropped him as I 
would the Senator from Indiana ! He was here at the last session 
of Congress ; and everybody could see then that he was on the road 
to the traitors' camp. Instead of sustaining the Government, he, 
too, was crying out for peace ; but he was bitter against " Lincoln's 
Government." Sir, when I talk about preserving this great Govern- 
ment, I do not have its executive officer in my mind. The execu- 
tive head of the Government comes in and goes out of office every 
four years. He is the mere creature of the people. I talk about 
the Government without regard to the particular executive officers 
who have charge of it. If they do well, we can continue them ; if 
they do wrong, we can turn them out. Mr. Lincoln having come in 
according to the forms of law and the Constitution, I, loving my Gov- 
ernment and the Union, felt it to be my duty to stand by the Gov- 
ernment, and to stand by the Administration in all those measures 
that I believed to be necessary and proper for the preservation and 
perpetuation of the Union. 

Mr. Polk has gone ; Mr. Breckinridge has gone ; my namesake, 
the late Senator from Missouri, has gone. Did you not see the line 
of separation at the last session ? Although Senators make speeches, 
in which they give utterance to disclaimers, we can see their bearing. 
It is visible now ; and the obligations of truth and duty to my coun- 
try require me to speak of it. I believe there are treasonable ten- 
dencies here now ; and how long it will be before they will land in 
the traitors' camp, I shall not undertake to say. The great point 
with these gentlemen is, that they are opposed to coercion and to 
the enforcement of the laws. Without regard to the general bear- 
ing of the Senator from Indiana upon that point, let me quote the 
conclusion of his letter of the 7th of September, 1861, to J. Fitch. 
I will read only the concluding portion of the letter, as it does him 
no injustice to omit the remainder : 

" And hence I have opposed, and so long as my present convic- 
tions last shall continue to oppose, the entire coercive policy of the 
Government. I hope this may be satisfactory to my friends. For 
my enemies I care not." 

Does this not correspond with the Senator's general bearing ? Has 
he given his aid or countenance or influence, in any manner, towards 
31 



74 APPENDIX. 

the efforts of the Government to sustain itself? What has been his 
course ? We know that great stress has been laid upon the word 
" coercion," and it has been played upon effectually for the purpose 
of prejudicing the Southern mind, in connection with that other 
term, " subjugation of the States," which has been used so often. 
We may as well be honest and fair, and admit the truth of the great 
proposition, that a Government cannot exist — in other words, it is 
no Government if it is without the power to enforce its laws and 
coerce obedience to them. That is all there is of it ; and the very 
instant that you take that power from this Government it is at an 
end ; it is a mere rope of sand that will fall to pieces of its own 
weight. It is idle, Utopian, chimerical, to talk about a Government 
existing without the power to enforce its laws. How is the Govern- 
ment to enforce its laws ? The Constitution says that Congress shall 
have power to " provide for calling forth the militia to execute the 
laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." Let 
me ask the Senator from Indiana, with all his astuteness, how is 
rebellion to be put down, how is it to be resisted, unless there is 
some power in the Government to enforce its laws ? 

If there be a citizen who violates your post-office laws, who coun- 
terfeits the coin of the United States, or who commits any other 
offence against the laws of the United States, you subject him to 
trial and punishment. Is not that coercion ? Is not that enforcing 
the laws ? How is rebellion to be put down without coercion, with- 
out enforcing the laws ? Can it be done ? The Constitution pro- 
vides that, 

"The United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a 
republican form of government, and shall protect each of them from 
invasion ; and on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive, 
(when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence." 

How is this Government to put down domestic violence in a State 
without coercion ? How is the nation to be protected against insur- 
rection without coercing the citizens to obedience ? Can it be done ? 
When the Senator says he is against the entire coercive policy of the 
Government, he is against the vital principle of all government. I 
look upon this as the most revolutionary and destructive doctrine 
that ever was preached. If this Government cannot call forth the 
militia, if 'it cannot repel invasion, if it cannot put down domestic 
violence, if it cannot suppress rebellion, I ask if the great objects of 
the Government are not at an end ? 

Look at my own State, by way of illustration. There is open 
rebellion there ; there is domestic violence ; there is insurrection. 
An attempt has been made to transfer that State to another j>ower. 



APPENDIX. 75 

Let me ask the Senator from Indiana if the Constitution does not 
require you to guaranty us a republican form of government in that 
State ? Is not that your sworn duty ? We ask you to put down 
this unholy rebellion. What answer do you give us ? We ask you 
to protect us against insurrection and domestic violence. What is 
the reply ? "I am against your* whole coercive policy ; I am against 
the enforcement of the laws." I say that if that principle be acted 
on, your Government is at an end ; it fails utterly to carry out the 
object of its creation. Such a principle leads to the destruction of 
the Government, for it must inevitably result in anarchy and confu- 
sion. " I am opposed to the entire coercive policy of the Govern- 
ment," says the Senator from Indiana. That cuckoo note has been 
reiterated to satiety ; it is understood ; men know the nature and 
character of their Government, and they also know that " coercion " 
and " subjugation " is mere ad captandum, idle and unmeaning slang- 
wanging. 

Sir, I may be a little sensitive on this subject upon the one hand, 
while I know I want to do ample justice upon the other. I took 
an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. There is 
rebellion in the land ; there is insurrection against the authority of 
this Government ? Is the Senator from Indiana so unobservant or so 
obtuse that he does not know now that there has been a deliberate 
design for years to change the nature and character and genius of 
this Government ? Do we not know that these schemers have been 
deliberately at work, and that there is a party in the South, with 
some associates in the North, and even in the West, that become 
tired of free government, in which they have lost confidence ? They 
raise an outcry against " coercion," that they may paralyze the Gov- 
ernment, cripple the exercise of the great powers with which it was 
invested, finally to change its form and subject us to a Southern 
despotism. Do we not know it to be so ? Why disguise this great 
truth ? Do we not know that they have been anxious for a change 
of Government for years ? Since this rebellion commenced it has 
manifested itself in many quarters. How long is it since the organ 
of the government at Richmond, the Richmond Whig, declared that 
rather than live under the Government of the United States, they 
preferred to take the constitutional Queen of Great Britain as their 
protector ; that they would make an alliance with Great Britain for 
the purpose of preventing the enforcement of the laws of the United 
States ? Do we not know this ? Why then play " hide and go 
seek ?" Why say, " Oh yes, I am for the Union," while every act, 
influence, conversation, vote, is against it ? What confidence can 
we have in one who takes such a course ? 



-76 APPEXDIX. 

The people of my State, downtrodden and oppressed by the iron 
heel of Southern despotism, appeal to you for protection. They ask 
you to protect them against domestic violence. They want you to 
help them to put down this unholy and damnable rebellion. They 
call upon this Gdvernment for the execution of its constitutional 
duty to guaranty to them a republican form of Government, and to 
protect them against the tyranny and despotism which is stalking 
abroad. What is the cold reply? "lam against the entire coer- 
cive policy ; I am not for enforcing the laws." Upon such a doc- 
trine the Government crumbles to pieces, and anarchy and despot- 
ism reign throughout the land. 

Indiana, God bless her, is as true to the Union as the needle is to 
the pole. She has sent out her " columns ;" she has sent her thou- 
ands into the field, for what ? To sustain the Constitution and 
to enforce the laws ; and as they march with strong arms and brave 
hearts to relieve a suffering people, who have committed no offence 
save devotion to this glorious Union ; as they march to the rescue 
of the Constitution and to extend its benefits again to a people who 
love it dearly, and who have been ruthlessly torn from under its 
protecting segis, what does their Senator say to them ? "I am 
against the entire policy of coercion." Do you ever hear a Senator 
who thus talks make any objection to the exercise of unconstitu- 
tional and tyrannical power by the so-called Southern Confederacy, 
or say a word against its practice of coercion ? In all the speeches 
that have been delivered on that point, has one sentence against 
usurpation, against despotism, against the exercise of doubtful and 
unconstitutional powers by that confederacy, been uttered ? Oh, no 1 
Have you heard any objection to their practicing not only coercion 
but usurpation ? Have they not usurped government ? Have they 
not oppressed, and are they not now tyrannizing over the people ? 
The people of my State are coerced, borne down, trodden beneath 
the iron heel of power. We appeal to you for protection. You 
stand by and see us coerced ; you stand by and see tyranny triumph- 
ing, and no sympathy, no kindness, no helping hand can be. extended 
to us. Your Government is paralyzed ; your Government is power- 
less ; that which you have called a Government is a dream, an idle 
thing. You thought you had a Government, but you have none. 
My people are appealing to you for protection under the Constitu- 
tion. They are arrested by hundreds and by thousands ; they are 
dragged away from their homes and incarcerated in dungeons. They 
ask you for protection. Why do you not give it ? Some of them 
are lying chained in their lowly prison-house. The only response to 
their murmur is the rattling and clanking of the chains that bind 



APPENDIX. 77 

their limbs. The only response to their appeals is the grating of the 
hinges of their dungeon. When we ask for help under the Consti- 
tution, we are told that the Government has no power to enforce the 
laws. Our people are oppressed and downtrodden, and you give 
them no remedy. They were taught to love and respect the Consti- 
tution of the United States. What is their condition to-day ? They 
are hunted and pursued like the beasts of the forest by the secession 
and disunion hordes who are enforcing their doctrine of coercion. 
They are shot or hung for no crime save a desire to stand by the 
Constitution of the United States. Helpless children and innocent 
females are murdered in cold blood. Our men are hung and their 
bodies left upon the gibbet. They are shot and left lying in the gorges 
of mountains, not even thrown into the caves there to lie, but are 
left exposed to pass through all the loathsome stages of decomposi- 
tion, or to be devoured by the birds of prey. We appeal for protec- 
tion, and are told by the Senator from Indiana and others, " we can- 
not enforce the laws ; we are against the entire coercive policy." Do 
you not hear their groans ? Do you not hear their cries ? Do you 
not hear the shrieks of oppressed and downtrodden women and 
children ? Sir, their tones ring out so loud and clear that even lis- 
tening angels look from heaven in pity. 

I will not pursue this idea further, for I perceive that I am con- 
suming more time than I intended to occupy. I think it is clear 
and conclusive, without going further into the discussion, that the 
Senator from Indiana has sympathized with the rebellion. The con- 
clusion is fixed upon my mind that the Senator from Indiana has 
disqualified himself, has incapacitated himself to discharge the 
duties in this body of a loyal Senator. I think it is clear that, even 
if we were a court, we should be bound to convict him ; but I do 
not narrow the case down to the close rules that would govern a 
court of justice. 

But, sir, in the course of the discussion one palliating fact was 
submitted by the distinguished Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Ten 
Eyck), and he knows that I do not refer to him in any spirit of 
unkindness. There was more of legal learning and special pleading 
in his suggestion than solidity or sound argument. He suggested 
that there was no proof that this letter had ever been delivered to 
Jefferson Davis, and that therefore the Senator from Indiana ought 
not to be convicted. Well, sir, on the other hand, there is no proof 
that it was not delivered. It is true, the letter was found in Mr. 
Lincoln's possession ; but who knows that Davis did not read the 
letter, and hand it back to Lincoln ? It may have been that, being 
from his early friend, a man whom he respected, Lincoln desired to 



78 APPENDIX. 

keep the letter and show it to somebody else. "We have as much 
right to infer that the letter was delivered as that it was not ; but 
be that as it may, does it lessen the culpability of the Senator from 
Indiana ? He committed the act, and so far as he was concerned it 
was executed. It would be no palliation of his offence if the man 
did not deliver the letter to Davis. The intent and the act were 
just as complete as if it had been delivered. 

During the war of the Revolution, in 1780, Major Andre, a British 
spy, held a conference with Benedict Arnold. Arnold prepared his 
letters, six in number, and they were handed over to Major Andr6, 
who put them between the soles of his feet and his stockings, and he 
started on his way to join Sir Henry Clinton. Before he reached his 
destination, however, John Paulding and his two associates arrested 
Major Andre. They pulled off his boots and his stockings, and they 
got the papers; they kept them, and Major Andre was tried and 
hung as a spy. Arnold's papers were not delivered to Sir Henry 
Clinton ; but is there anybody here who doubts that Arnold was a 
traitor? Has public opinion ever changed upon that subject ? He 
was not convicted in a court, nor were the treasonable dispatches 
which were to expose the condition of West Point, and make the 
British attack upon it easy and successful, ever delivered to Six Henry 
Clinton, and yet Andre was hung as a spy. Because Sir Henry Clin- 
ton did not receive the treasonable documents was the guilt of Ben- 
edict Arnold any the less ? I do not intend to argue this question 
in a legal way ; I simply mention this circumstance by way of illus- 
tration of the point which has been urged in the present case, and 
leave it for the public judgment to determine. 

Sir, it has been said by the distinguished Senator from Delaware 
[Mr. Saulsbury] that the questions of controversy might all have been 
settled by compromise. He dealt rather extensively in the party 
aspect of the case, and seemingly desired to throw the onus of the 
present condition of affairs entirely on one side. He told us that if 
so and so had been done these questions could have been settled, and 
that now there would have been no war. He referred particularly 
to the resolution offered during the last Congress by the Senator from 
New Hampshire [Mr. Clark], and upon the vote on that he based his 
argument. I do not mean to be egotistical, but if he will give me 
his attention I intend to take the staple out of that speech, and show 
how much of it is left on that point. 

The speech of the Senator from Delaware was a very fine one. I 
have not the power, as he has, to con over and get by rote, and mem- 
orize handsomely rounded periods, and make a great display of rhet- 
oric. It is my misfortune that I am not so skilled. I have to seize 



APPENDIX. 79 

on fugitive thoughts as they pass through my mind, make the best 
application of them I can, and express them in my own crude way. 
I am not one of those who prepare rounding, sounding, bounding, 
rhetorical flourishes, read them over twenty times before I come iuto 
the Senate Chamber, make a great display, and have it said, " Oh, 
that is a fine speech !" I have heard many such fine speeches ; but 
when I have had time to follow them up, I have found that it never 
took long to analyze them, and reduce them to their original ele- 
ments ; and that when they were reduced, there was not very much 
of them. [Laughter.] 

The Senator told us that the adoption of the Clark amendment to 
the Crittenden resolutions defeated the settlement of the questions of 
controversy ; and that, but for that vote, all could have been peace 
and prosperity now. We were told that the Clark amendment de- 
feated the Crittenden compromise, and prevented a settlement of the 
controversy. On this point I will read a portion of the speech of 
my worthy and talented friend from California [Mr. Latham], and 
when I speak of him thus, I do it in no unmeaning sense. I intend 
that he, not I, shall answer the Senator from Delaware. I know that 
sometimes, when gentlemen are fixing up their pretty rhetorical flour- 
ishes, they do not take time to see all the sharp corners they may 
encounter. If they can make a readable sentence, and float on in a 
smooth, easy stream, all goes well, and they are satisfied. As I have 
said, the Senator from Delaware told us that the Clark amendment 
was the turning-point in the whole matter ; that from it had flowed 
rebellion, revolution, war, the shooting and imprisonment of people 
in different States — perhaps he meant to include my own. This was 
the Pandora's box that has been opened, out of which all the evils 
that now afflict the land have flown. Thank God, I still have hope 
that all will yet be saved. My worthy friend from California [Mr. 
Latham], during the last session of Congress, made one of the best 
speeches he ever made. I bought five thousand copies of it for dis- 
tribution, but I had no constituents to send them to [laughter] ; and 
they have been lying in your document-room ever since, with the 
exception of a few, which I thought would do good in some quarters. 
In the course of that sjieech, upon this very point, he made use of 
these remarks : 

" Mr. President, being last winter a careful eye-witness of all that 
occurred, I soon became satisfied that it was a deliberate, willful de- 
sign, on the part of some representatives of Southern States, to seize 
upon the election of Mr. Lincoln merely as an excuse to precipitate 
this revolution upon the country. One evidence, to my mind, is the 
fact that South Carolina never sent her Senators here." 



8fl APPENDIX. 

Then they certainly were not influenced by the Clark amendment. 

"An additional evidence is, that when gentlemen on this floor, by 
their votes, could have controlled legislation, they refused to cast 
them for fear that the very propositions submitted to this body might 
have an influence in changing the opinions of their constituencies. 
Why, suv when the resolutions submitted by the Senator from New 
Hampshire [Mr. Clark] were offered as an amendment to the Critten- 
den propositions, for the manifest purpose of embarrassing the latter, 
and the vote taken on the 16th of January, 1861, I ask, what did we 
see ? There were fifty-five Senators at that time upon this floor in 
person. The Globe of the second session, Thirty-Sixth Congress, part 1, 
page 409, shows that upon the call of the yeas and nays immediately 
preceding the vote on the substituting of Mr. Clark's amendment, 
there were fifty-five votes cast. I will read the vote from the Globe: 

"Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, 
Clark, Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, 
Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, 
Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson— 25. 

"Nats — Messrs. Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Cling- 
man, Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter, 
Iverson, Johnson of Arkansas, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, 
Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Sauls- 
bury, Sebastian, Slidell, and Wigfall — 30. 

" The vote being taken immediately after on the Clark projjosition, 
was as follows : 

"Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, 
Clark, Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, 
Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, 
Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson— 25. 

" Nats — Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman, Critten- 
den, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, 
Lane, Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, 
Saulsbury, and Sebastian — 23. 

" Six Senators retained their seats and refused to vote, thus them- 
selves allowing the Clark proposition to supplant the Crittenden 
resolution by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-three. Mr. Benjamin 
of Louisiana, Mr. Hemphill and Mr. Wigfall, of Texas, Mr. Iverson 
of Georgia, Mr. Johnson of Arkansas, and Mr. Slidell of Louisiana, 
were in their seats, but refused to cast their votes." 

I sat right behind Mr. Benjamin, and I am not sure that my worthy 
Mend was not close by, when he refused to vote, and I said to him, 
" Mr. Benjamin, why do you not vote ? Why not save this propo- 
sition and see if we cannot bring the country to it ?" He gave me 
rather an abrupt answer, and said he would control his own action 
without consulting me or anybody else. Said I, " Vote, and show 
yourself an honest man." As soon as the vote was taken, he and 
others telegraphed South, " We cannot get any compromise." Here 
were six southern men refusing to vote, when the amendment would 
have been rejected by four majority if they had voted. Who, then, 



APPENDIX. 81 

has brought these evils on the country ? Was it Mr. Clark ? He 
was acting out his own policy ; but with the help we had from the 
other side of the Chamber, if all those on this side had been trite to 
the Constitution and faithful to their constituents, and had acted 
with fidelity to the country, the amendment of the Senator from 
New Hampshire could have been voted down, the defeat of which 
the Senator from Delaware says would have saved the country. 
Whose fault was it ? Who is responsible for it ? I think that is not 
only getting the nail through, but clinching it on the other side, and 
the whole staple commodity is taken out of the speech. Who did 
it ? Southern traitors, as was said in the speech of the Senator from 
California. They did it. They wanted no compromise. They ac- 
complished their object by withholding their votes ; and hence the 
country has been involved in the present difficulty. Let me read 
another extract from this speech of the Senator from California : 

" I recollect full well the joy that pervaded the faces of some of 
those gentlemen at the result, and the sorrow manifested by the ven- 
erable Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden]. The record shows 
that Mr. Pugh, from Ohio, despairing of any compromise between 
the extremes of ultra Republicanism and disunionists, working mani- 
festly for the same end, moved, immediately after the vote was an- 
nounced, to lay the whole subject on the table. If you will turn to 
page 443, same volume, you will find, when, at a late period, Mr. 
Cameron, from Pennsylvania, moved to reconsider the vote, appeals 
having been made to sustain those who were struggling to preserve 
the peace of the country, that the vote was reconsidered ; and when, 
at last, the Crittenden propositions were submitted on the 2d day of 
March, these Southern States having nearly all seceded, they were 
tli en lost by but one vote. Here is the vote : 

"Yeas — Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bright, Crittenden, Douglas, 
Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Ma- 
son, Nicholson, Polk, Pugh, Rice, Sebastian, Thomson, aud Wig- 
fall— 19. 

"Nays — Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, 
Doolittle, Durkee, Fessendcn, Foot. Foster, Grimes, Harlan, King, 
Morrill, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wil- 
son— 20. 

" If these seceding Southern Senators had remained, there would 
have passed, by a large vote (as it did without them), an amend- 
ment, by a two-third vote, forbidding Congress ever interfering with 
slavery in the States. The Crittenden proposition would have been 
indorsed by a majority vote, the subject finally going before the 
people, who have never yet, after consideration, refused justice, for 
any length of time, to any portion of the country. 

" I believe more, Mr. President, that these gentlemen were acting 
in pursuance of a settled and fixed plan to break up and destroy this 
Government." 



82 APPENDIX. 

When we had it in our power to vote down the amendment of the 
Senator from New Hampshire, and adopt the Crittenden resolutions, 
certain Southern Senators prevented it ; and yet, even at a late day 
of the session, after they had seceded, the Crittenden proposition was 
only lost by one vote. If rebellion and bloodshed and murder have 
followed, to whose skirts does the responsibility attach ? I summed 
up all these facts myself in a speech during the last session ; but I 
have preferred to read from the speech of the Senator from Califor- 
nia, he being better authority, and having presented the facts better 
than I could. 

What else was done at the very same session ? The House of Rep- 
resentatives passed, and sent to this body, a proposition to amend 
the Constitution of the United States, so as to prohibit Congress from 
ever hereafter interfering with the institution of slavery in the States, 
making that restriction a part of the organic law of the land. That 
constitutional amendment came here after the Senators from seven 
States had seceded ; and yet it was passed by a two-third vote in the 
Senate. Have you ever heard of any one of the States which had 
then seceded, or which has since seceded, taking up that amendment 
to the Constitution, and saying they would ratify it, and make it a 
part of that instrument ? No. Does not the whole history of this 
rebellion tell you that it was revolution that the leaders wanted, that 
they started for, that they intended to have ? The facts to which I 
have referred show how the Crittenden proposition might have been 
carried ; and when the Senators from the slave States were reduced 
to one fourth of the members of this body, the two Houses passed a 
proposition to amend the Constitution, so as to guaranty to the 
States perfect security in regard to the institution of slavery in all 
future time, and prohibiting Congress from legislating on the subject. 

But what more was done ? After southern Senators had treacher- 
ously abandoned the Constitution and deserted their posts here, 
Congress passed bills for the organization of three new Territories, 
Dakota, Nevada, and Colorado ; and in the sixth section of each of 
those bills, after conferring, affirmatively, power on the Territorial 
Legislature, it went on to exclude certain powers by using a nega- 
tive form of expression ; and it provided, among other things, that 
the Legislature should have no power to legislate so as to impair the 
right to private property ; that it should lay no tax discriminating 
against one description of property in favor of another ; leaving the 
power on all these questions not in the Territorial Legislature, but in 
the people when they should come to form a State constitution. 

Now, I ask, taking the amendment to the Constitution, and taking 
the three territorial bills, embracing every square inch of territory in 



APPEXDIX. 83 

the possession of the United States, how much of the slavery ques- 
tion was left ? What better compromise could have been made ? 
Still we are told that matters might have been compromised, and 
that if we had agreed to compromise, bloody rebellion would not 
now be abroad in the land. Sir, Southern Senators are responsible 
for it. They stood here with power to accomplish the result, and 
yet treacherously, and, I may say, tauntingly, they left this Chamber, 
and announced that they had dissolved their connection with the 
Government. Then, when we were left in the hands of those whom 
we had been taught to believe would encroach upon our rights, 
they gave us, in the constitutional amendment and in the three terri- 
torial bills, all that had ever been asked ; and yet gentlemen talk 
about compromise. Why was not this taken and accepted ? No ; it 
was not compromise that the leaders wanted ; they wanted power ; 
they wanted to destroy this Government, so that they might have 
place and emolument for themselves. They had lost confidence in 
the intelligence and virtue and integrity of the people, and their 
capacity to govern themselves ; and they intended to separate and 
form a government, the chief corner-stone of which should be slav- 
ery, disfranchising the great mass of the people, of which we have 
seen constant evidence, and merging the powers of government in 
the hands of the few. I know what I say. I know their feelings 
and their sentiments. I served in the Senate here with them. I 
know they were a close coi-poration, that had no more confidence 
in or respect for the people than has the Dey of Algiers. I fought 
that close corporation here. I knew that they were no friends 
of the people. I knew that Slidell and Mason and Benjamin and 
Iverson and Toombs were the enemies of free government, and I 
know so now. I commenced the war upon them before a State 
seceded ; and I intend to keep on fighting this great battle before 
the country for the perpetuity of free government. They seek to 
overthrow it, and to establish a despotism in its place. That is the 
great battle which is upon our hands. The great interests of civil 
liberty and free government call upon every patriot and every lover 
of popular rights to come forward and discharge his duty. 

We see this great struggle ; we see that the exercise of the vital 
priuciple of government itself is denied by those who desire our 
institutions to be overthrown and despotism established on their 
ruins. If we have not the physical and moral courage to exclude 
from our midst men whom we believe to be unsafe depositors of 
public power and public trust— men whose associates were rolling 
oft* honeyed accents against coercion, and are now in the traitor's 
camp— if we have not the courage to force these men from our midst, 



84 APPEXDIX. 

because we have known them, and have been personal friends with 
them for years, we are not entitled to sit here as Senators ourselves. 
Can you expect your brave men, your officers and soldiers that are 
now in " the tented field," subject to all the hardships and privations 
pertaining to a civil war like this, to have courage, and to march on 
with patriotism to crush treason on every battle-field, when you have ■ 
not the courage to expel it from your midst ? Set those brave men 
an example ; say to them by your acts and voice that you evidence 
your intention to put down traitors in the field by ejecting them 
from your midst, without regard to former associations. 

I do not say these things in unkindness. I say them in obedience 
to duty, a high constitutional duty that I owe to my country ; yes, 
sir, that I owe to my wife and children. By your failure to exercise 
the powers of this Government, by your failure to enforce the laws of 
the Union, I am separated from those most dear to me. Pardon mc, 
sir, for this personal allusion. My wife and children have been turned 
into the street, and my house has been turned into a barracks, and 
for what ? Because I stand by the Constitution and the institutions 
of the country that I have been taught to love, respect, and venerate. 
This is my offense. Where are my sons-in-law ? One to-day is lying 
in prison ; another is forced to fly to the mountains to evade the pur- 
suit of the hell-born and hell-bound conspiracy of disunion and seces- 
sion ; and when their cries come up here to you for protection, we 
are told, " No ; I am against the entire coercive policy of the Govern- 
ment." 

The speech of the Senator from California the other day had the 
effect in some degree, and seemed to be intended to give the question 
a party tinge. If I know myself— although, as I avowed before, I 
am a Democrat, and expect to live and die one — I know no party in 
this great struggle for the existence of my country. The argument 
presented by the Senator from California was, that we need not be 
in such hot pursuit 6f Mr. Bright, or those Senators who entertain 
his sentiments, who are still here, because we had been a little dila- 
tory in expelling other traitorous Senators heretofore, and he referred 
us to the resolution of the Senator from Maine [Mr. Fessenden], 
which was introduced at the special session in March last, declaring 
that certain Senators having withdrawn, and their seats having 
thereby become vacant, the Secretary should omit their names from 
the roll of the Senate. I know there seemed to be a kind of timidity, 
a kind of fear, to make use of the word " expel " at that time ; but 
the fact that we declared the seats vacant, and stopped there, did 
not preclude us from afterwards passing a vote of censure. The reso- 
lution, which was adopted in March, merely stated the fact that Sena- 



APPENDIX. 8 



> 



ators had withdrawn, and left their seats vacant. At the next session 
a resolution was introduced to expel the other Senators from the 
seceded States who did not attend in the Senate ; and my friend 
[Mr. Latham] moved to strike out that very resolution the word 
" expelled," and insert " vacated ;" so that I do not think he ought 
to he much offended at it. I simply allude to it to show how easy 
it is for us to forget the surrounding circumstances that influenced 
our action at the time it took place. "VVe know that a year ago there 
was a deep and abiding hope that the rebellion would not progress 
as it has done ; that it would cease ; and that there might be circum- 
stances which, at one time, would to some extent justify us in allow- 
ing a wide margin which, at another period of time, would be wholly 
unjustifiable. 

All this, however, amounts to nothing. "We have a case now before 
us that requires our action, and we should act upon it conscientiously 
in view of the facts which are presented. Because we neglected to 
expel traitors before, and omitted to have them arrested, and per- 
mitted them to go away freely, and afterwards declared their seats 
vacant because they had gone, we are not now prevented from expel- 
ling a Senator who is not worthy to be in the Senate. I do not say 
that other traitors may not be punished yet. I trust in God the time 
will come, and that before long, when these traitors can be overtaken 
in the aggregate, and we may mete out to them condign punishment, 
such as their offense deserves. I know who was for arresting them. 
I know who declared their conduct to be treason. Here in their 
midst I told them it was treason, and they might make the best of it 
they could. 

Sir, to sum up the argument, I think there is but little in the point 
presented by the Senator from New Jersey, of there being no proof 
of the reception of the letter ; and I think I have extracted the staple 
commodity entirely out of the speech of the Senator from Delaware ; 
and so far as the force of the argument, based upon the Senate hav- 
ing at one session expelled certain members, while at the previous 
session it only vacated their seats, I think the Senator from California 
answers that himself. As to the polished and ingenious statement 
of the case made by the Senator from New York [Mr. Harris], I 
think I have answered that by putting the case upon a different basis 
from that presented by him, and which seems to control his action. 

Mr. President, I have alluded to the talk about compromise. If I 
know myself, there is no one who desires the preservation of this 
Government more than I do ; and I think I have given as much 
evidence as mortal man could give of my devotion to the Union. 
My property has been sacrificed ; my wife and children have been 



8G APPENDIX. 

turned out of doors ; my sons hare been imprisoned ; my son-in-law 
has had to run to the mountains ; I have sacrificed a large amount 
of bonds in trying to give some evidence of my devotion to the 
Government under which I was raised. I have attempted to show 
you that on the part of the leaders of this rebellion there was no 
desire to compromise — compromise was not what they wanted ; and 
now the great issue before the country is the perpetuation or the 
destruction of free Government. I have shown how the resolution 
of the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden] was defeated, and 
that Southern men are responsible for that defeat— six sitting in 
their places and refusing to vote. His proposition was only lost by 
two votes ; and in the end, when the seceders had gone, by only one. 
Well do I remember, as was described by the Senator from California, 
the sadness, the gloom, the anguish that played over his venerable 
face when the result was announced ; and I went across the Cham- 
ber, and told him that here were men refusing to vote, and that to 
me was administered a rebuke by one of them for speaking to him 
on the subject. 

Now, the Senator from Delaware tells us if that compromise had 
been made, all these consequences would have been avoided. It is. a 
mere pretense ; it is false. Their object was to overturn the Govern- 
ment. If they could not get the control of this Government, they 
were willing to divide the country and govern a part of it. Talk 
not of compromise now. What, sir, compromise with traitors with 
arms in their hands ? Talk about "our Southern brethren 1 ' when 
they lay their swords at your throat and their bayonets at your 
bosoms ? Is this a time to talk about compromise ? Let me say, 
and I regret I have to say it, that there is but one way to compro- 
mise this matter, and that is to crush the leaders of this rebellion 
and put down treason. You have got to subdue them ; you have 
got to conquer them ; and nothing bvit the sacrifice of life and blood 
will do it. The issue is made. The leaders of rebellion have decreed 
eternal separation between you and them. Those leaders must be 
conquered, and a new set of men brought forward who are to vitalize 
and develop the Union feeling in the South. You must show your 
courage here as Senators, and impart it to those who are in the field. 
If you were to compromise they would believe that they could whip 
you one to five, and you could not live in peace six months, or even 
three months. Settle the question now ; settle it well ; settle it 
finally ; crush out the rebellion and punish the traitors. I want to 
see peace, and I believe that is the shortest way to get it. Blood 
must be shed, life must be sacrificed, and you may as well begin at 
first as last. I only regret that the Government has been so tardy in 



APPENDIX. 87 

its operations. I wish the issue had been met sooner. I believe 
that if we had seen as much in the beginning as we see to-day, this 
rebellion would have been wound up and peace restored to the land 
by this time. 

But let us go on ; let us encourage the Army and the Navy ; let 
us vote the men and the means necessary to vitalize and to bring 
into requisition the enforcing and coercive power of the Govern- 
ment ; let us crush out the rebellion, and anxiously look forward to 
the day — God grant it may come soon — when that baneful comet of 
fire and of blood that now hovers over this distracted people may 
be chased away by the benignant star of peace. Let us look for- 
ward to the time when we can take the flag, the glorious flag of 
our country, and nail it below the cross, and there let it wave as it 
waved in the olden time, and let us gather around it, and inscribe 
as our motto, " Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and 
forever." Let us gather around it, and while it hangs floating 
beneath the cross, let us exclaim, " Christ first, our country next !" 
Oh, how gladly rejoiced I should be to see the dove returning to the 
ark with the fig leaf, indicating that land was found, and that the 
mighty waters had abated. I trust the time will soon come when 
we can do as they did in the olden times, when the stars sang 
together in the morning and all creation proclaimed the glory of 
God. Then let us do our duty in the Senate and in the councils of 
the nation, and thereby stimulate our brave officers and soldiers to 
theirs in the field. 

Mr. President, I have occupied the attention of the Senate much 
longer than I intended. In view of the whole case, without personal 
unkind feeling towards the Senator from Indiana, I am of opinion 
that duty to myself, duty to my family, duty to the Constitution, 
duty to the country, obedience to the public judgment, require me 
to cast my vote to expel Mr. Bright from the Senate, and when the 
occasion arrives I shall so record my vote. 



PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S OPINIONS ON THE USE OF 

ARDENT SPIRITS. 
The New York Observer contained the following communication 
conveying President Johnson's opinions on the use of ardent spirits : 

South Ralston, Saratoga Co., April 29, 1865. 
Messrs. Editors,— In 1833 I visited ex-President Madison, who 
6i{med the declaration below. On my return from Virginia, I called 



o 



88 



APPEXDIX. 



on President Jackson and ex-President Adams. They added their 
signatures. The declaration is on parchment. Every succeeding 
President has added his name except President Harrison. He died 
before I had time to forward it ; but that he would have signed it I 
have no doubt, had he lived, as I was given to understand, after his 
death, that he had abandoned his interest in a distillery, from prin- 
ciple President Johnson has now returned the document to 

me with his autograph. 

Tours, truly, EDWARD C. DELAVAN. 

PRESIDENTIAL DECLARATION. 

Being satisfied from observation and experience, as well as from 
medical testimony, that ardent spirits, as a drink, is not only need- 
less, but hurtful ; and that the entire disuse of it would tend to 
promote the health, the virtue, and the happiness of the commu- 
nity, we hereby express our conviction, that should the citizens of 
the United States, and especially the young men, discontinue entirely 
the use of it, they would not only promote their own personal bene- 
fit, but the good of our country and the world. 



James Madison, 
John Q. Adams, 
John Tyler, 
Millard Fillmore, 



Franklin Pierce, 
Abraham Lincoln, 
Andrew Jackson, 
M. Van Buren, 



Zachary Taylor, 
James K. Polk, 
James Buchanan, 
Andrew Johnson. 



THE HOME OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

Rev. Randall Ross, Chaplain of the Fifteenth Ohio regiment, 
writes an interesting letter to the United Presbyterian, descriptive 
of the village of Greenville, East Teun., the home of President John- 
son. The place contains only about one thousand inhabitants, and 
consists of four squares, with streets running through at right angles. 

Many years ago, on a certain evening, a rude, black-headed, black- 
eyed, good-looking boy, said my informant, drove into town with a 
poor old horse in a little one-horse vehicle, in which he had his 
mother and a few household things. They succeeded in securing a 
humble habitation by rent. This secured, the next object was to 
secure labor by which to live. He began to inquire for tailoring to 



APPEXJDIX. 89 

do. His youthful appearance made it scorn to be somewhat of a 
risk to put cloth in his hands. His honest appearance, together 
with his anxiety to obtain work, however, induced an influential 
citizen to give him a coat to make for himself, with the advice to do 
his best on it, and if he made a good job of it he then would have 
no difficulty in getting work. He did his best ; he succeeded with 
the job, and he began immediately to gain the confidence of the 
public and to get jflcnty to do. 

This was the first appearance of Andrew Johnson in Greenville, 
Teun., and this was the first job of work he did on his own respon- 
sibility. The first house he lived in, I was told, is not now standing. 
He was industrious and attentive to business, and he succeeded well. 
In process of time he was married. The marriage ceremony was 
performed by Mordecai Lincoln, Esq., said to be a distant relation 
of the late President Lincoln. The house in which he was married 
has been removed. At this time, my informant told me, Andrew 
Johnson could not read, and was taught to read by his wife after 
their marriage. Things prospered with him, and in due time he 
became able to own his own house and lot. 

Just down there at the base of this hill stands a small brick build- 
ing, with a back porch, and around it the necessary fixtures. It 
stands on the corner of the square, near where the mill race passes 
under the street on its way down to the little mill. 

That is the first house ever Andrew Johnson owned. It now 
belongs to another person. I sit, and almost directly opposite the 
mill, whose large wheel is still moving, but whose motion is scarcely 
perceptible, you will see a rather humble, old-fashioned looking two- 
story brick house, standing near the south end of Main Street. It 
has but cne entrance from the street. In front of it stand three or 
four small shade trees. The fences of the lot and windows of the 
house show evident signs of dilapidation, the consequences of rebel- 
lion and of rebel rule. Like many other windows in the South, a 
number of panes of glass are broken out and their places supplied 
with paper. Glass could not be obtained in the Confederacy. As 
you pass along the pavement on Main Street, by looking into the 
lot you see several young apple trees, and in the spaces between two 
of them arc potatoes growing. In the rear of the kitchen stands a 
small aspen shade tree, and clown there in the lower end of the lot 
is a grape vine, trained upon a trellis, forming a pleasant bower. 
Scattered over the lot are a number of rose, currant, and gooseberry 
bushes. At the lower end of the lot, and just ouside, stand two 
large weeping willows, aud under their shade is a very beautiful 
spring. This is the residence of Andrew Johnson, President of the 
32 



90 APPEXDIX. 

United States. Up the street stands his former tailor shop, with the 
old sign still on it. And in an old store room up the street is the 
remains of his library. At present it consists principally of law 
books and public documents, most of his most valuable books hav- 
ing been destroyed by the rebel soldiers. 



ORDER RELATING TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE 

FREEDMEN. 

Previous to leaving on his Southern tour, General Howard, of the 
Freedmen's Bureau, received the following order from the President, 
which will sufficiently explain the objects of his visit : 

War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, ) 
Washington, October 9, 1865. \ 

General Orders No. 145. — Whereas, Certain tracts of land situ- 
ated on the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, at the 
time for the most part vacant, were set apart by Major-General Sher- 
man's Special Field Orders, No. 15, for the benefit of refugees and 
freedmen that had congregated by operations of war, or had been 
left to take care of themselves by their former owners ; and 

Whereas, An expectation was thereby created that they would be 
able to retain possession of said lands ; and whereas, a large number 
of the former owners are earnestly soliciting the restoration of the 
same, and promising to absorb the labor and care of the freedmen, 
it is ordered that Major-General Howard, Commissioner of the Bureau 
of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, proceed to the seve- 
ral above-named States and endeavor to effect an arrangement 
mutually satisfactory to the freedmen and the landowners, and make 
a report, and, in case a mutually satisfactory arrangement can be 
effected, he is duly empowered and directed to issue such orders as 
may become necessary after a full and careful investigation of the 
interests of the parties concerned. 

By order of the President of the United States. 

E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General. 



SPEECH TO THE NEGRO SOLDIERS. 

On Tuesday, October 10, the First District of Columbia colored 
regiment marched to the Executive mansion, where it was reviewed 
by the President, who addressed the soldiers as follows : 

My Friends : My object in presenting myself before you on this 



APPEXDIX. 91 

occasion is simply to tliank you, members of one of the colored regi- 
ments which has been in the service of the country to sustain and 
carry its banner and its laws triumphantly in every part of this 
broad land. I repeat that I appear before you on the present occa- 
sion merely to tender you my thanks for the compliment you have 
paid me on your return home to again be associated with your friends 
and your relations and those you hold most sacred and dear. I 
repeat, I have little to say, it being unusual in this Government and 
in most other governments to have colored troops engaged in their 
service. You have gone forth, as events have shown, and served 
with patience and endurance in the cause of your country. This is 
your country as well as anybody else's country. [Cheers.] This is 
the country in which you expect to live and in which you should 
expect to do something by your example in civil life, as you have 
done in the field. This country is founded upon the principles of 
equality, and at the same time the standard by which persons are to 
be, estimated is according to their merit and their worth ; and you 
have observed, no doubt, that for him who does his duty faithfully 
and honestly there is always a just public judgment that will appre- 
ciate and measure out to him his proper reward. I know that there 
is much well calculated in this Government, and since the late rebel- 
lion commenced, to excite the white against the black and the black 
against the white man ; there are things you should all understand 
and at the same time prepare yourselves for what is before you. Upon 
the return of peace and the surrender of the enemies of the country, 
it should be the duty of every patriot and every one who calls him- 
self a Christian, to remember that with the termination of the war 
his resentments should cease, that angry feelings should subside, and 
that every man should become calm and tranquil, and be prepared 
for what is before him. This is another part of your mission. You 
have been engaged in the effurt to sustain your country in the past, 
but the future is more important to you than the period in which 
you have just been engaged. One great question has been settled 
in this Government, and that is the question of slavery. The insti- 
tution of slavery made war against the United States, and the United 
States has lifted its strong arm in vindication of the Government 
and of free government, and on lifting that arm and appealing to 
the God of battles, it has been decided that the institution of slavery 
must go down. [Cheers.] This has been done, and the Goddess 
of Liberty, in bearing witness over many of our battlefields since 
the struggle commenced, has made her loftiest flight, and proclaimed 
that true liberty has been established upon a more permanent and 



92 APPENDIX. 

enduring basis than heretofore. [Applause.] But this is not all ; 
and as you have paid me the compliment to call upon me, I shall 
take the privilege of saying one or two words as I am before you. 
I repeat that it is not ail. Now, when the sword is returned to the 
scabbard, when your arms are reversed and the olive branch of peace 
is extended, as I remarked before, resentment and revenge should 
subside. Then what is to follow ? You do understand, no doubt, 
and if you do not, you cannot understand too snon, that simple 
liberty does not mean the privilege of going into the battlefield, or 
into the service of the country as a soldier. It means other things 
as well ; and now when you have laid down your arms there are 
other objects of equal importance before you. Now that the Gov- 
ernment has triumphantly passed through this mighty rebellion, 
after the most gigantic battles the world ever saw, the problem is 
before you, and it is best that you should understand it ; and there- 
fore I speak simply and plainly. Will you now, when you have 
returned from the army of the United States and taken the position 
of the citizen ; when you have returned to the avocations of peace, 
will you give evidence to the world that you are capable and com- 
petent to govern yourselves ? That is what you will have to do. 
Liberty is not a mere idea, a mere vagary. It is an idea, or it is a 
reality ; and when you come to examine this question of liberty, 
you will not be mistaken in a mere idea for the reality. It does not 
consist in idleness. Liberty does not consist in being worthless. 
Liberty does not consist in doing all things as we please, and there 
can be no liberty without law. In a government of freedom and of 
liberty there must be law, and there must be obedience and submis- 
sion to the law, without regard to color. [Cheers.] Liberty (and 
may I not call you my countrymen) — liberty consists in the glorious 
privilege of work— of pursuing the ordinary avocations of peace 
with industry and with economy ; and that being done, all those 
who have been industrious and economical are permitted to appro- 
priate and enjoy the products of their own labor. [Cheers.] This 
is one of the great blessings of freedom ; and hence we might ask 
the question and answer it by stating that liberty means freedom to 
work and enjoy the products of your own labor. You will soon be 
mustered out of the ranks. It is for you to establish the great fact 
that you are fit and qualified to be free. Hence freedom is not a 
mere idea, but is something that exists in fact. Freedom is not 
simply the privilege to live in idleness ; liberty does not mean 
simply to resort to the low saloons and other places of disreputable 
character. Freedom and liberty do not mean that the people 



APPENDIX. 93 

ought to live in licentiousness ; but liberty means simply to be indus- 
trious, to be virtuous, to be upright in all our dealings and relations 
with men ; and those now before me, members of the First Regiment 
of Colored Volunteers from the District of Columbia and the capital 
of the United States, I have to say that a great deal depends upon 
yourselves. You must give evidence that you are competent for the 
rights that the Government has guaranteed to you. Henceforth 
each and all of you must be measured according to your merit. If 
one man is more meritorious than the other, they cannot be equals ; 
and he is the most exalted that is the most meritorious, -without 
regard to color. And the idea of having a law passed in the morn- 
ing that will make a white man a black man before night, and a 
black man a white man before day, is absurd. That is not the 
standard. It is your own conduct ; it is your own merit ; it is the 
development of your own talents and of your owu intellectuality 
and moral qualities. Let this then be your course : adopt a system 
of morality ; abstain from, all licentiousness. And let me say one 
thing here, for I am going to talk plain. I have lived in a Southern 
State all my life, and know what has too often been the case. There 
is one thing you should esteem higher and more supreme than 
almost all others, and that is the solemn contract, with all the penal- 
ties, in the association of married life. Men and women should 
abstain from those qualities and habits that too frequently follow a 
war. Inculcate among your children and among your associations, 
notwithstanding you are just back from the army of the United 
States, that virtue, that merit, that intelligence are the standards to 
be observed, and those which you are determined to maintain during 
your future lives. This is the way to make white men black and 
black men white. [Cheers.] He that is most meritorious and vir- 
tuous, and intellectual and well-informed, must stand highest, with- 
out regard to color. It is the very basis upon which Heaven rests 
itself. Each individual takes his degree in the sublimer and more 
exalted regions in proportion to Ids merits and his virtue. Then I 
shall say to you on this occasion — in returning to your homes and 
firesides, after feeling conscious and proud of having faithfully dis- 
charged your duty, returning with the determination that you will 
perform your duty in the future as you have in the past — abstain 
from all those bickerings and jealousies, and revengeful feelings 
which too often spring up between different races. There is a great 
problem before us, and I may as well allude to it here in this con- 
nection, and that is whether this race can be incorporated and mixed 
with the people of the United States, to be made a harmonious and 



94 APPENDIX. 

permanent ingredient in the population. This is a problem not yet 
settled, but we are in the right line to do so. Slavery raised its 
head against the Government, and the Government raised its strong 
arm and struck it to the ground. So that part of the jjrobleru is 
settled ; the institution of slavery is overthrown. But another part 
remains to be solved, and that is : Can four millions of people, raised 
as they have been with all the prejudices of the whites, can they 
take their places in the community and be made to work harmo- 
niously and congruously in our system ? This is a problem to be 
considered. Are the digestive powers of the American Government 
sufficient to receive this element in a new shape, and digest it, and 
make it work healthfully upon the system that has incorporated it ? 
This is the question to be determined. Let us make the experiment, 
and make it in good faith. If that cannot be done, there is another 
problem before us. If we have to become a separate and distinct 
people (although I trust that the system can be made to work har- 
moniously, and that the great problem will be settled without going 
any further) ; if it should be so that the two races cannot agree and 
live in peace and prosperity, and the laws of Providence require 
that they should be separated, in that event, looking to the far-dis- 
tant future, and trusting that it may never come ; if it should come, 
Providence, that works mysteriously, but unerringly and certainly, 
will point out the way and the mode and the manner by which these 
people are to be separated, and they are to be taken to their lands 
of inheritance and promise — for such a one is before them. Hence 
we are making the experiment. Hence, let me impress upon you 
the importance of controlling your passions, developing your intel- 
lect and of applying your physical powers to the industrial interests 
of the country ; and that is the true process by which this question 
can be settled. Be patient, persevering and forbearing, and you 
will help to solve the problem. Make for yourselves a reputation in 
this cause, as you have won for yourselves a reputation in the cause 
in which you have been engaged. In speaking to the members of 
this regiment I want them to understand that, so far as I am con- 
cerned, I do not assume or pretend that I am stronger than the laws, 
of course, of nature, or that I am wiser than Providence itself. It 
is our duty to try and discover what those great laws are which are 
at the foundation of all things ; and, having discovered what they 
.are, conform our actions and our conduct to them and to the will of 
God, who ruleth all things. He holds the destinies of nations in 
the palm of His hand, and He will solve the question and rescue 
these people from the difficulties that have so long surrounded them. 



APPENDIX. 95 

Then let us be patient, industrious, and persevering. Let us develop 
auy intellectual and moral worth. I trust what I have said may be 
understood and appreciated. Go to your homes and lead peaceful, 
prosperous, and happy lives, in peace with all men. Give utterance 
to no word that would cause dissensions, but do that which will be 
creditable to yourselves and to your country. To the officers who 
have led and so nobly commanded you in the field, I also return my 
thanks for the compliment you have conferred upon me. 

The troops then returned to Campbell Hospital, where they par- 
took of the abundant hospitalities of their colored fellow citizens. 



THE PRESIDENT PAROLES ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 

AND OTHERS. 

ORDER. 

Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 1865. 

Whereas, The following-named persons, to wit : John A. Camp- 
bell, of Alabama, John H. Reagan, of Texas, Alexander H. Stephens, 
of Georgia, George A. Trenholm, of South Carolina, and Charles 
Clark, of Mississippi, lately engaged in rebellion against the United 
States Government, who are now in close custody, have made their 
submission to the authority of the United States and applied to the 
President for pardon under his proclamation ; and 

Whereas, The authority of the Federal Government is sufficiently 
restored in the aforesaid States to admit of the enlargement of said 
persons from close custody, it is ordered that they be released on 
giving their respective paroles to appear at such time and place as 
the President may designate, to answer any charge that he may 
direct to be preferred against them ; and also that they will respect- 
ively abide, until further orders, in the places herein designated, and 
not depart therefrom : John A. Campbell, in the State of Alabama ; 
John H. Reagan, in the State of Texas ; Alexander H. Stephens, in 
the State of Georgia ; George A. Trenholm, in the State of South 
Carolina, and Charles Clark in the State of Mississippi. And if the 
President should grant his pardon to any of said persons, such per 
son's parole will thereby be discharged. 

ANDREW JOHNSON, President. 



PROCLAMATION RESCINDING MARTIAL LAW IN 

KENTUCKY. 

Washington, Thursday, October 12, 1865. 
Whereas, By a proclamation of the 5th day of July, 1864, the Presi- 



96 APPENDIX. 

dent of the United States, when the civil war was flagrant, and when 
combinations were in progress in Kentucky for the purpose of incit- 
ing insurgent raids into that State, directed that the proclamation 
suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should be made 
effectual in Kentucky, and that martial law should be established 
there and continue until said proclamation should be revoked or mod- 
ified ; and ichereas, since then, the danger from insurgent raids into 
Kentucky has substantially passed away ; now, therefore, be it known 
that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by virtue of 
the authority vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby declare 
that the said proclamation of the fifth day of July, one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-four, shall be and is hereby modified in so 
far that martial law shall be no longer in force in Kentucky from and 
after the date hereof. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 

seal of the United States to be affixed. 
Done at the City of Washington this 12th day of October, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, 
[l. s.] and of the independence of the United States of Amer- 
ica the ninetieth. 

ANDREW JOHNSON. 
By the President : 

W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State. 



INTERESTING INTERVIEW OF SOUTH CAROLINA DELE- 
GATION WITH THE PRESIDENT— IMPORT ANT VIEWS. 

On the afternoon of October 13th, Judge Wardlow, Alfred Huger, 
Colonel Dawkins and W. H. Trescott of South Carolina, had an in- 
terview with President Johnson : 

The President, after the customary preliminaries of reception, 
invited them to be seated, when at once the conversation commenced 
by Judge Wardlow informing him that they were a delegation from 
the State Convention of South Carolina, sent there to present certain 
memorials of that body. These memorials had been very carefully 
considered in the Convention, and he believed they told exactly the 
truth. The President inquired the object of the memorials. Judge 
Wardlow informed him that one of them was in behalf of Jefferson 
Davis, A. H. Stephens, George A. Trenholm and Governor Magrath. 
He said they had understood that by the late interference of the 
President, Messrs. Stephens and Trenholm had already been released 



APPENDIX. 97 

from close confinement and permitted to return to their homes. Tie 
would ask for Governor Magrath either a pardon or that he might 
be released on his parole. They could assure the President no harm 
would result from such an act of clemency. 

The President replied that all could not be pardoned at once. 
The business must be proceeded with gradually, and an effort made 
to execute the law. A discrimination was necessary as we went 
along. It was a too common expression, by way of argument in re- 
gard to clemency, that such a one had been pardoned, and that he 
was just as bad as another who had not been pardoned. 

Judge Wardlow replied that the delegation presented no such 
argument as that. 

The President said sometimes the peculiar locality had much to 
do with pardons. Like many other things in human affairs we can- 
not have a fixed rule. Much depends on discretion and circum- 
stances. If we know ourselves, we want to do what is best and just, 
and to show a proper degree of humanity on the part of the Govern- 
ment. 

Judge "Wardlow remarked that they had not come there to ex- 
press their own hopes and desires, but as delegates from the South 
Carolina Convention to present the memorials of that body in a for- 
mal manner. 

The President : "We will, gentlemen, extend all the facilities and 
courtesies which the question requires. "We would prefer to pardon 
twenty men than to refuse one. 

Judge Wardlow replied, that they did not design to say any- 
thing with reference to Governor Magrath, further than that they 
believed much good would result by the exercise of the Executive 
clemency toward him. 

Colonel Hawkins said if they could get Governor Magrath paroled 
it would be a great relief to him at the present time. 

Judge Wardlow thanked the President for having released Messrs. 
Stephens and Trenholrn. 

The President : We have thus far, then, anticipated your me- 
morial. 

Mr. Heger said Mr. Trenholrn was one of their most useful men, 
and there was no doubt he would exert all his power with a view to 
entire harmony between the State and the Government. 

The President replied that he understood that was so ; adding, 
if treason was committed, there ought to be some test to determine 
the power of the Goverment to punish the crime. He was free to say 
that it was not a mere contest between political parties, or a question 



98 APPEXDIX. 

as to de facto governments. Looking at the Government as we do, 
the laws violated, and an attempt made at the life of the nation, 
there should he a vindication of the Government and the Constitu- 
tion, even if the pardoning power were exercised thereafter. If trea- 
son has been committed, it ought to be determined by the highest 
tribunal, and the fact declared, even if clemency should come after- 
ward. There was no malice or prejudice in carrying out that duty. 

Judge Wardlow remarked they were well aware of that. 

The President resuming, said there might be some unkind feeling 
on this subject, but it did not exist to any great extent. 

Judge Wardlow said, although not instructed by the Convention, 
he was induced to ask whether Mrs. Jefferson Davis, who was now 
confined to Georgia, could not cross into South Carolina to see her 
friends. 

The President, replied that he had received letters from Mrs. 
Davis, but they were not very commendable. The tone of one of 
them, however, was considerably improved, but the others were not 
of the character beseeming one asking leniency. 

Judge Wardlow interposed by saying she was a woman of strong 
feeling. 

The President : Yes ; I suppose she is a woman of strong feeling 
and temper, but there is no intention to persecute her. There is as 
much magnanimity and independence, and nobleness of spirit, in 
submitting, as in trying to set the Government at defiance. True 
magnanimity takes things as they are, and when taken in the proper 
way I disconnect them from humiliation. Manifestations of temper 
and defiance do no good. 

Judge Wardlow remarked that the tone of the newspapers was 
more favorable, and different from what it was. He then asked if 
the President had seen a copy of the amended Constitution of South 
Carolina. Of course he had seen they accepted emancipation. He felt 
perfectly satisfied that the person and property of the negro would 
be protected, and spoke of the great difficulties of regulating labor 
and restraining vagrancy, etc. 

Mr. Huger remarked that they had a deep consciousness of the 
truth of all the President said. 

The President, resuming, observed that the character of an indi- 
vidual may characterize a nation, which is nothing but an aggregate 
of individuals ; and when a proper spirit is manifested, all can act 
harmoniously. The man who goes to the stake is almost dignified 
by his bearing : it lifts him above humiliation. In these cases, gen- 
tlemen, we will do the best we can. While there is sympathy, there 



APPEXDIX. 99 

is a public judgment which must be met. But, I assure you, gentle- 
men, no disposition exists for persecution, or thirst for blood. 

The President thought many of. the evils would disappear if they 
inaugurated the right system. Pass laws protecting the colored 1 
in his person and property, and he can collect his debts. He knew 
how it was in the South. The question when first presented of putting 
a colored man in the witness stand, made them shrug their shoulder?. 
But the colored man's testimony was to be taken for what it is worth 
by those who examined him, and the jury who hear it. After all, 
there was not so much danger as was supposed. Those coming out 
of slavery cannot do without work ; they cannot lie down in dissipa- 
tion ; they must work ; they ought to understand that liberty means 
simply the light to work and enjoy the products of labor, and that 
the laws protect them. That being done, and when we come to the 
period to feel that men must work or starve, the country will be pre- 
pared to receive a system applicable to both white and black — pre- 
pared to receive a system necessary to the case. A short time back 
you could not enforce the vagrant law on the black, but could on 
the white man. But get the public mind right and you can treat 
both alike. Let us get the general principles, and the details and 
collaterals will follow. 

A conversation of some length ensued between the President and 
Judge Wardlow and Mr. Trescott as to the legislation of the State 
necessary in reference to the condition of the Freedmen, and to the 
scope and consequences of the Circular No. 15 and General Orders 
No. 145, from the Adjutant-General's Department, relative to aban- 
doned lands in South Carolina and other Southern States. The ex- 
amination of these objects, it is understood, is to be continued at 
another interview. 

The President said : We must be practical, and come up to sur- 
rounding circumstances. 

Judge Wardlow, Colonel Hawkins and Mr. Huger, all expressed 
to the President their conviction that the State had accepted in good 
faith the result of the issue which had been made ; that the people 
felt that the President had stood between them and a harsh use of 
the power of the Government ; that they felt entire confidence in his 
purposes and actions, and hoped, in return, to entitle themselves to 
his confidence as to their feelings and actions. 

The President replied, he was glad to hear it ; that whenever 
such mutual confidence existed, there would, he thought, be an open 
road to the restoration of good feeling and a prosperous condition ; 
and that if he knew himself, and he thought he did, he would rec- 



100 APPENDIX. 

ommend nothing but what would advance their interests. So far from 
pandering or looking to future elevation, he must be believed, when 
he said he had not an eye single to such preferment. If, he contin- 
ued, I could be instrumental in restoring the Government to its for- 
mer relation, and sec the people once more united and happy, I should 
feel that I had more than filled the measure of my ambition. If I 
could feel that I had contributed to this in any degree, my heart 
would be more than gratified, and my ambition full. 

Judge Wardlow : Every man in South Carolina would respond 
to that. 

Mr. Huger : I am sure there is on their part no Punic faith. They 
deserve your confidence, and I am sure they will earn it. 

The President expressed himself gratified with what had been 
said by these gentlemen. 

Mr. Dawkins remarked that all South Carolina reposed confidence 
in the President, and that the memorials presented by the Chairman 
of the delegation represented the true sentiments of the people of 
that State, both in regard to those whom they wished pardoned and 
the feeling and position of South Carolina. 



THE PRESIDENT TO SOUTH CAROLINA CONVENTION. 

South Carolina papers contain the following dispatch, dated 29th 
September : 

" Governor B. F. Perry : I thank you for your dispatch of the 
28th instant. I have to congratulate your Convention upon its har- 
monious and successful amendments to the constitution. It affords 
gnat satisfaction here to all who favor a speedy restoration of all 
the States in the Union. Let this work go on, and we will soon be 
once more united, a prosperous and happy people, forgetting the 
past, looking with confidence to a prosperous and harmonious future. 

" ANDREW JOHNSON, President United States." 



THE PRESIDENT ON THE RESTORATION OF THE SOUTH- 
ERN STATES AND THE STATUS OF THE NEGRO. 

Mr. George L. Steams, of Medford, Mass., has published an 
authenticated report of an interview with the President, which, if 



APPEXDIX. 101 

it does not add anything to, tends very explicitly to illustrate, the 
President's views on the restoration of the lately insurgent States 
and the status of the negro. I therefore give it as follows : 

Y>~a suing ton, D. C, Oct. 3, 11+ A. M. 

I have just returned from an interview with President Johnson, 
in which he talked for an hour on the process of reconstruction of 
rebel States. His manner was as cordial, and his conversation as 
free, as in 1863, when I met him daily in Nashville. 

His countenance is healthy — even more so than when I first knew 
him. 

I remarked that the people of the North were anxioua that the 
process of reconstruction should be thorough, and they wished to 
support him in the arduous work ; but their ideas were confused by 
the conflicting reports constantly circulated, and especially by the 
present position of the democratic party. It is industriously circu- 
lated in the democratic clubs that he was going over to them. He 
laughingly replied : " Major, have you never known a man who for 
many years had differed from your views because you were in advance 
of him, claim them as his own when he came up to your standpoint ?" 

I replied : " I have often." He said : " So have I," and went on : 
" The democratic party finds its old position untenable, and is coming 
to ours. If it has come up to our position I am glad of it. You 
and I need no preparation for this conversation ; we can talk freely 
on this subject, for the thoughts are familiar to us ; we can be j>er- 
fectly frank with each other." He then commenced with sayino- 
that the States are in the Union, which is whole and indivisible. 

Individuals tried to carry them out but did not succeed, as a man 
may try to cut his throat and be prevented by the bystanders, and 
you cannot say he cut his throat because he tried to do it. 

Individuals may commit treason and be punished, and a large num- 
ber of individuals may constitute a rebellion and be punished as 
traitors. Some States tried to get out of the Union and Ave opposed 
it, honestly, because we believed it to be wrong ; and we have suc- 
ceeded in putting down the rebellion. The power of those persons 
who made the attempt has been crushed, and now we want to recon- 
struct the State governments, and have the power to do it. The 
State institutions are prostrated, laid out on the ground, and they 
must be taken up and adapted to the progress of events ; this can- 
not be done in a moment. We are making very rapid progress — 
so rapid I sometimes cannot realize it ; it appears like a dream. 

We must not be in too much of a hurry. It is better to let them 
reconstruct themselves than to force them to it ; for if they go 



1C2 APPENDIX. 

wrong, the power is in our hands and we can check them at any 
stage, to the end, and oblige them to correct their errors. We must 
be patient with them. I did not expect to keep out all who were 
excluded from the amnesty, or even a large number of them ; but 
I intended they should sue for pardon, and so realize the enormity 
of the crime they had committed. 

You could not have broached the subject of equal suffrage, at the 
North, seven years ago ; and we must remember that the changes at 
the South have been more rapid, and that they have been obliged 
to accept more unpalatable truth than the North has. We must 
give them time to digest a part ; for we cannot expect such large 
affairs will be comprehended and digested at once. We must give 
them time to understand their new position. 

I have nothing to conceal in these matters, and have no desire or 
willingness to take indirect courses to obtain what we want. 

Our Government is a grand and lofty structure ; in searching for 
its foundation we find it rests on the broad basis of popular rights. 
The elective franchise is not a natural right, but a political right. 
I am opposed to giving the States too much power, and also to a 
great consolidation of power in the central government. 

If I interfered with the vote in the rebel States, to dictate that 
the negro shall vote, I might do the same thing for my own pur- 
poses in Pennsylvania. Our only safety lies in allowing each State 
to control the right of voting by its own laws, and we have the 
power to control the rebel States if they go wrong. If they rebel 
we have the army, and can control them by it, and, if necessary, by 
legislation also. If the general government controls the right to 
vote in the States, it may establish such rules as will restrict the vote 
to a small number of persons, and thus create a central despotism. 

My position here is different from what it would be if I was in 
Tennessee. 

There I should try to introduce negro suffrage gradually ; first, 
those who had served in the army ; those who could read and write, 
and perhaps a property qualification for others, say $200 or $250. 

It will not do to let the negroes have universal suffrage now, it 
would breed a war of races. 

There was a time in the Southern States when the slaves of large 
owners looked down upon non-slave owners because they did not 
own slaves ; the larger the number of slaves their masters owned 
the prouder they were, and this has produced hostility between the 
mass of the whites and the negroes. The outrages are mostly from 
non-slaveholding whites against the negro, and from the negro upon 
the non-slaveholding whites. 



APPENDIX. 103 

The negro will vote with the late master whom he does not hate, 
rather than with the non-slaveholding white, whom he does hate. 
Universal suffrage would create another war, not against us, but a 
war of races. 

Another thing. This Government is the freest and best on the 
earth, and I feel sure is destined to last ; but to secure this we must 
elevate and purify the ballot. I for many years contended at the 
South that slavery was a political weakness, but others said it was 
political strength ; they thought we gained three-fifths representa- 
tion by it ; I contended that we lost two-fifths. 

If we had no slaves we should have had twelve representatives 
more, according to the then ratio of representation. Congress 
apportions representation by States, not districts, and the State 
apportions by districts. 

Many years ago, I moved in the Legislature that the apportion- 
ment of representatives to Congress in Tennessee, should be by 
qualified voters. 

The apportionment is now fixed until 1872 ; before that time we 
might change the basis of representation from population to quali- 
fied Voters, North as well as South, and in due course of time, the 
States, without regard to color, might extend the elective franchise 
to all who possessed certain mental, moral, or such other qualifica- 
tions, as might be determined by an enlightened public judgment. 

The above having been submitted to the President, received the 
following endorsement : 

u I have read the within communication and find it substantially 
correct. I have made some verbal alterations. 

" ANDREW JOHNSON." 



THE PRESIDENT ON THE REBEL WAR DEBT. 

Governor W. W. Holden communicated the following important 
dispatch from the President to the Restoration Convention sitting 
at Raleigh, October 18 : 

" Washington City, Oct. 18, 1865. 
" W. W. Holden, Provisional Governor : 

" Every dollar of the State debt created to aid the rebellion against 
the United States should be repudiated, finally and forever. The 
great mass of the people should not be taxed to pay a debt to aid 
in carrying on a rebellion which they, in fact, if left to thcmselves» 



104 APPENDIX. 

were opposed to. Let those who have given their means for the 
obligations of the State, look to that power they tried to establish 
in violation of law, Constitution and will of the people. They 
must meet their fate. It is their misfortune, and cannot be recog- 
nized by the people of any State professing themselves loyal to the 
Government of the United States and in the Union. 

" I repeat that the loyal people of North Carolina should be ex- 
onerated from the payment of every dollar of indebtedness created 
to aid in carrying on the rebellion. I trust and hope that the people 
of North Carolina will wash their hands of everything that partakes 
in the slightest degree of the rebellion which has been so recently 
crushed by the strong arm of the Government, in carrying out the 
obligations imposed by the Constitution of the Union. 

" ANDREW JOHNSON, President United States." 

On the next day an ordinance prohibiting for ever the assump- 
tion of the debt indicated, was passed by the Convention. It was 
greeted with loud a]3plause. 



RECEPTION OF THE EMBASSY FROM TUNIS. . 

The Embassy from the Bey of Tunis was presented by Secretary 
Seward to the President in the blue room of the Executive Mansion 
on the 30th of October, when lus Excellency General Otman Hash em 
read from a paper, written in Arabic, an address, of which the follow- 
ing is a translation : 

Excellexcy : His Highness the Bey of Tunis, my august sovereign, 
presents to your Excellency his warmest greetings and the respectful 
homage which is due to your exalted position. He has sent me to 
appear in your presence for the purpose of expressing to your Excel- 
lency and to your people the great pleasure winch he experienced on 
the cessation of your calamitous war, and on the restoration of peace 
and tranquillity in your great country. My august sovereign has also 
instructed me to present to your Excellency expressions of condo- 
lence for the tragic end of the illustrious man, Abraham Lincoln, 
whose death justly excited national grief and exceedingly affected 
his Highness. We ardently hope and pray that with this event may 
end the misfortunes of the United States. In view of the friendship 
which unites the two countries, his Highness the Bey sends to your 
Excellency his portrait as a souvenir of his friendship, for the aug- 
mentation of which, between our respective people, his Highness lias 
a lively interest and a warm desire. I feel myself flattered and ex- 
ceedingly fortunate that the choice of his Highness has fallen upon 
me to accomplish this important and honorable mission, whose suc- 
cess I should regard as one of the noblest results of my life. I take 
pleasure in stating on this occasion, in the presence of your Excel- 
lency, that since my arrival in this country I have everywhere re- 



APPENDIX. 105 

ceived the most cordial and flattering greetings, and the liveliest 
expressions of sympathy for my country, for which I am duly grateful. 

The President replied : 

General : This inauguration of national courtesies between the 
old continent of Africa and the new continent of America seems to 
us to be suggestive, and we trust that it is auspicious. I am glad 
that Tunis has sent us an envoy, and am especially pleased that you 
have been chosen by his Highness the Bey to be that minister. You 
are favorably known to us as a soldier and a scholar, and, above all, 
as a statesman devoted to the extinction of slavery. You will be 
able to report to his Highness the Bey that the American nation are 
trying a humanitarian experiment. It is nothing less than this : 
Whether a people can have liberty and at the same time govern 
itself. The events, pleasing and painful, to which you have referred 
in your speech, and to which your Government has referred so kin illy 
in your letters of credence, were incidents of this great trial. We 
have accepted them as such ; and while we thank God that He has 
saved us from the calamities which were threatened us by great 
crimes, we thank Him for haying inclined the nations of the earth to 
interpret these crimes and their consequences so justly. We humbly 
trust that our success will be beneficent, not only at home, but 
throughout the world ; because it will give assurance that although 
war and conquest are so directed by Providence as to produce be- 
neficent effects, yet that benevolence and peace are even better agen- 
cies to promote the progress of civilization. The portrait of the Bey 
which he has sent us, besides being interesting to us as the likeness 
of a national friend, is valuable too as a work of art. It is received 
with satisfaction, and Congress will be apprised of the gift. The 
Executive Government will endeavor to make your sojourn agreeable, 
as it will at all times be pleased to know the wishes of your Govern- 
ment. 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE FENIANS. 

The release of Mr. John Mitchel having been granted by the Presi- 
dent, on an application made by the Congress of Fenian Societies of 
the United States, held in Philadelphia in October, the Congress sent 
a deputation composed of Colonel Roberts of New York, President 
of the Fenian Senate, and B. Doran Killian of St. Louis, to express 
the thanks of the organization. The deputation was accompanied 
by Mr. Stephen J. Meany of Toledo, Ohio. These gentlemen were 
favored with an early interview. Having been presented, Colonel 
Roberts addressed the President as follows : 

Mr. President : I have the honor of being delegated by the Con- 
vention of Irish-American citizens, assembled in Philadelphia, repre- 
senting large social classes in thirty States and Territories, to wait 
upon your Excellency and express to you how deeply they feel the 
act restoring to freedom a man whom they love and venerate for his 
33 



100 APFEXDIX. 

self-sacrificing devotion to his native land. They remember nothing 
of John Mitchel's American career. They can never forget that he 
risked all a patriot should for Ireland. Tarn sure, your Excellency, 
the American people "will have no cause to regret the sympathy they 
feel and the friendship we believe they entertain for' their fellow- 
citizens of Irish birth. We, sir, are not unconscious of the fact that 
we have found in America liberty, justice and an asylum. 

President Johnson replied in substance as follows : 

Gentlemen : I am glad to learn that the steps which have been 
taken in the matter referred to have met. with the approval of the 
gentlemen who have sent you here. As you, sir, delicately remarked, 
we could not remember Mr. Mitchel's American career; but we 
anxious, as a mark of respect and compliment to the large section of 
our countrymen with whom Mr. Mitchel was previously identified, 
to yield to their expressed wishes in that regard. 



THANKSGIVING FOR PEACE AND UNION. 
Proclamation of the President of the United States of America. 

Whereas, it has pleased Almighty God, during the year which is 
now coming to &n end, to relieve our beloved country from the fear- 
ful scourge of civil war, and to permit us to secure the blessings of 
peace, unity and harmony, with a great enlargement of civil liberty ; 
and 

Whereas, our Heavenly Father has, also, daring the year, graciously 
averted from us the calamities of foreign war, pestdence find famine, 
while our granaries are full of the fruits of an abundant season ; and 

Whereas, righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a reproach 
to any people ; 

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, 
do hereby recommend to the people thereof, that they do set apart 
and observe the First Thursday of December as a day of National 
Thanksgiving to the Creator of the Universe for these deliverances 
and blessings. 

And I do further recommend that on that occasion the whole peo- 
ple make confession of our national sins against His infinite good- 
ness, and with one heart and one mind implore the Divine guidance 
in the ways of national virtue and holiness. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of 
Washington this twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the inde- 
pendence of the United States the ninetieth. 

ANDREW JOHNSON. 

By tlu nt : 

WiLU-iM H. Seward, Secretary of State. 



APPENDIX. 107 



THE PRESIDENT TO GOVERNOR HUMPHREYS OP 

MISSISSIPPI. 

Washington, Nov. 17, 1865. 
B. G. Humphreys, Governor elect, Jackson, Miss. : 

The troops will be withdrawn from Mississippi when, in the opin- 
ion of the government, peace and order and the civil authority have 
been restored and can be maintained without them. Every step 
will be taken while they are there to enforce strict discipline and 
subordination to the civil authority. There can be no other or 
greater assurance given than has heretofore been on the part of the 
President or Government. There is no concession required on the 
part of the people of Mississippi or the legislature, other than a 
loyal compliance with the laws and Constitution of the United 
States, and the adoption of such measures giving protection to all 
freedmen or freemen in person and property, without regard to 
color, as will entitle them to resume all their constitutional relations 
in the Federal Union. 

The people of Mississippi may feel well assured that there is no 
disposition, arbitrarily, on the part of the Government to dictate 
what action should be had ; but, on the contrary, to simply and 
kindly advise a policy that is believed will result in restoring all the 
relations which should exist between the States comprising the 
Federal Union. 

It is hoped that they will appreciate and feel the suggestions 
herein made, for they are offered in that spirit which should pervade 
the bosom of all those who desire peace and harmony and a thorough 
restoration of the Union. 

There must be confidence between the Government and the States, 
and while the Government confides in the people the people must 
have faith in the Government. This must be mutual and reciprocal, 
or all that has been done will be thrown away. 

ANDREW JOHNSON, 

President of the United States. 



108 APPENDIX. 

REVOCATION OF REWARDS. 

general orders — no. 164. 

War Department, Adjutant General's Office, ) 

Washington, Nov. 24, 1865. \ 

Ordered — First : That all persons claiming reward for the appre- 
hension of John Wilkes Booth, Lewis Payne, G. A. Atzerott, and 
David E. Harold and Jeft'. Davis, or either of them, are notified to 
file their claims and proofs with the Adjutant General for final 
adjudication by the special commission appointed to award and 
determine upon the validity of such claims before the first of Janu- 
ary next, after which time no claims will be received. 

Second : The rewards offered for the arrest of Jacob Thompson, 
Beverly Tucker, George N. Saunders, William G. Cleary, and John 
H. Surratt, are revoked. 

By order of the 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General. 



THE PRESIDENT TO GOVERNOR HOLDEN. 

Washington. Nov. 27, 1865. 
Hon. W. W. Holden, Provisional Governor of North Carolina : 

Accept my thanks for the noble and efficient manner in which 
you have discharged your duty as Provisional Governor. You will 
be sustained by the Government. 

The results of the recent elections in North Carolina have greatly 
damaged the prospects of the State in the restoration of its govern- 
mental relations. 

Should the action and spirit of the Legislature be in the same 
direction it will greatly increase the mischief already done, and 
might be fatal. 

It is hoj>ed the action and spirit manifested by the Legislature will 
be so directed as rather to repair than increase the difficulties under 
which the State has already placed itself. 

ANDREW JOHNSON, 

President of the United States. 



APPENDIX. 109 



GOVERNOR HOLDEN TO THE PRESIDENT. 

Raleigh, N. C, Dec. 1, 1865. 
To the President of the United States: 

The Legislature has ratified, with but six dissenting voices, the 
Congressional amendment abolishing slavery. 

Five judges have been elected — all good selections. Three of my 
personal appointments have been confirmed. 

W. W. HOLDEN, Provisional Governor. 



PROCLAMATION RESTORING THE WRIT OF HABEAS 
CORPUS IN CERTAIN STATES. 

Whereas, by the proclamation of the President of the United 
States of the fifteenth day of December, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and sixty-three, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in 
certain cases therein set forth was suspended throughout the United 
States ; and, whereas, the reasons for that suspension may be regarded 
as having ceased in some of the States and Territories ; 

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President 
of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the sus- 
pension aforesaid and all other proclamations and orders suspending 
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the States and Terri- 
tories of the United States, are revoked and annulled, excepting aa 
to the States of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Arkansas, and Texas, the District of Columbia, the Territories of 
New Mexico and Arizona. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused tho 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington this first day of December, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth. 

ANDREW JOHNSON. 
By the President : 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 



[Official copy.] 

MESSAGE OF THE PllESIDEST OF THE UNITED STATES 

TO THE 

TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, 

AT THIS 

COMMENCEMENT OE THE FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTY- 
NINTH CONGRESS. 

Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : 

To express gratitude to God, in the name of the People, for the 
preservation of the United States, is my first duty in addressing 
you. Our thoughts next revert to the death of the late President 
by an act of parricidal treason. The grief of the nation is still 
fresh; it finds some solace in the consideration that he lived to 
enjoy the highest proof of its confidence by entering on the renewed 
term of the Chief Magistracy, to -which he had been elected ; that 
he brought the civil war substantially to a close ; that his loss was 
deplored in all parts of the Union ; and that foreign nations have 
reudered justice to his memory. His removal cast upon me a heavier 
weight of cares than ever devolved upon any one of his predeces- 
sors. To fulfill my trust I need the support and confidence of all 
who are associated with me in the various departments of Govern- 
ment, and the support and confidence of the people. There is but 
one way in which I can hope to gain their necessary aid ; it is, to 
state with frankness, the principles which guide my conduct, and 
their application to the present state of affairs, well aware that the » 
efficiency of my labors will, in a great measure, depend upon your 
and their undivided approbation. 

The Union of the United States of America was intended by its 
authors to last as long as the States themselves shall last. " The 
Union shall be perpetual," are the words of the Confederation. 
"To foum a more perfect Union" by an ordinance of the people 
of the United States is the declared purpose of the Constitution. 
The hand of Divine Providence was never more plainly visible in 
the affairs of men than in the framing -and the adopting of that 
instrument. It is, beyond comparison, the greatest event hi American 
history ; and indeed is it not, of all events in modem times, the 
most pregnant with consequences for every people of the earth ? The 
members of the Convention which prepared it, brought to their 
work the experience of the Confederation, of their several States, 
(110) 



APPENDIX. HI 

and of other Republican Governments, old and new; but they 
needed, and they obtained, a wisdom superior to experience. And 
when for its validity it required the approval of a people that occu- 
pied a large part of a continent, and acted sejmrately in many dis- 
tinct conventions, what is more wonderful than that, after earnest 
contention and long discussion, all feelings and all opinions were 
ultimately drawn in one way to its support ? 

The Constitution to which life was thus imparted contains within 
itself ample resources for its own preservation. It has power to 
enforce the laws, punish treason and insure domestic tranquillity. 
In case of the usurpation of the Government of a State by one man 
or an oligarchy, it becomes a duty of the United States to m:ike 
good the guarantee to that State of a republican form of govern- 
ment, and so to maintain the homogeneousness of all. Does the 
lapse of time reveal defects ? A simple mode of amendment is pro- 
vided in the Constitution itself, so that its conditions can always be 
made to conform to the requirements of advancing civilization. No 
room is allowed even for the thought of a possibility of its coming 
to an end. And these powers of self-preservation havo always been 
asserted in their complete integrity by every patriotic Chief Magis- 
trate — by Jefferson and Jackson, not less than by Washington and 
Madison. The parting advice of the Father of his Country, while 
yet President, to the people of the United States, was, that " the free 
Constitution, which was the work of their hands, might be sacredly 
maintained," and the inaugural words of President Jefferson held 
up " the preservation of the General Government, in its constitu- 
tional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety 
abroad." The Constitution is the work of " the People of the United 
States," and it should be as indestructible as the people. 

It is not strange that the framers of the Constitution, which had 
no model in the past, should not have fully comprehended the 
excellence of their own work. Fresh from a struggle against arbi- 
trary power, many patriots suffered from harassing fears of an 
absorption of the State Governments by the General Government, 
and many from a dread that the States would break away from 
their orbits. But the very greatness of our country should allay the 
apprehension of encroachments by the General Government. The 
subjects that come unquestionably within its jurisdiction are so 
numerous that it must ever naturally refuse to be embarrassed by 
questions that lie beyond it. Were it otherwise, the Executive 
would sink beneath the burden ; the channels of justice would be 



112 APPENDIX. 

choked ; legislation would be obstructed by excess ; so that there is 
a greater temptation to exercise some of the functions of the General 
Government through the States than to trespass on then* rightful 
sphere. " The absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majo- 
rity," was, at the beginning of the century, enforced by Jefferson 
" as the vital principle of republics," and the events of the last four 
years have established — we will hope forever — that there lies no ap- 
peal to force. 

The maintenance of the Union brings with it " the support of 
the State Governments in all their rights ;" but it is not one of the 
rights of any State Government to renounce its own place in the 
Union, or to nullify the laws of the Union. The largest liberty is to 
be maintained in the discussion of the acts of the Federal Govern- 
ment ; but there is no appeal from its laws, except to the various 
branches of that Government itself, or to the people, who grant to 
the members of the Legislative and of the Executive Departments 
no tenure but a limited one, and in that manner always retain the 
powers of redress. 

" The sovereignty of the States" is the language of the Confede- 
racy, and not the language of the Constitution. The latter contains 
the emphatic words : " The Constitution, and the laws of the United 
States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties 
made or which shall be made under the authority of the United 
States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in 
every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or 
laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." 

Certainly the Government of the United States is a limited gov- 
ernment; and so is every State Government a limited government. 
With us, this idea of limitation spreads through every form of admi- 
nistration, general, State, and municipal, and rests on the great dis- 
tinguishing principle of the recognition of the rights of man. The 
ancient republics absorbed the individual in the State, prescribed 
his religion, and controlled his activity. The American system rests 
on the assertion of the equal right of every man to life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness ; to freedom of conscience, to the culture 
and exercise of all his faculties. As a consequence, the State Gov- 
ernment is limited, as to the General Government in the interest of 
Union, as to the individual citizen in the interest of freedom. 

States, with proper limitations of power, are essential to the 
existence of the Constitution of the United States. At the very 
commencement, when we assumed a place among the Powers of the 



APPENDIX. 113 

earth; the Declaration of Independence was adopted by States ; so 
also were the Articles of Confederation ; and when " the People of 
the United States" ordained and established the Constitution, it 
was the assent of the States, one by one, which gave it vitality. In 
the event, too, of any amendment to the Constitution, the proposi- 
tion of Congress needs the confirmation of States. Without States, 
one great branch of the Legislative Government would be wanting. 
And, if we look beyond the letter of the Constitution to the char- 
acter of our country, its capacity for comprehending within its juris- 
diction a vast continental empire is due to the system of States. The 
best security for the perpetual existence of the States is the "supreme 
authority" of the Constitution of the United States. The perpe- 
tuity of the Constitution brings with it the perpetuity of the States; 
their mutual relation makes us what we are, and in our political 
system their connexion is indissoluble. The whole cannot exist 
without the parts, nor the parts without the whole. So long as the 
Constitution of the United States endures, the States will endure ; 
the destruction of the one is the destruction of the other ; the pre- 
servation of the one is the preservation of the other. 

I have thus explained my views of the mutual relations of the 
Constitution and the States, because they unfold the principles on 
which I have sought to solve the momentous questions and overcome 
the appalling difficulties that met me at the very commencement of 
my administration. It has been my steadfast object to escape from 
the sway of momentary passions, and to derive a healing policy from 
the fundamental and unchanging principles of the Constitution. 

I found the States suffering from the effects of a civil war. Re- 
sistance to the General Government appeared to have exhausted 
itself. The United States had recovered possession of their forts 
and arsenals ; and their armies were in the occupation of every State 
which had attempted to secede. Whether the territory within the 
limits of those States should be held as conquered territory, under 
military authority emanating from the President as the head of the 
army, was the first question that presented itself for decision. 

Now, military governments, established for an indefinite period, 
would have offered no security for the early suppression of discon- 
tent; would have divided the people into the vanquishers and 
the vanquished ; and would have envenomed hatred, rather than 
have restored affection. Once established, no precise limit to their 
continuance was conceivable. They would have occasioned an 
incalculable and exhausting expense. Peaceful emigration to and 



114 APPENDIX. 

from that portion of the country is one of the best means that can 
be thought of for the restoration of harmony ; and that emigration 
would have been prevented ; for what emigrant from abroad, what 
industrious citizen at home, would place himself willingly under 
military rule ? The chief persons who would have followed in the 
train of the army would have been dependents on the General 
Government, or men who expected profit from the miseries of their 
erring fellow-citizens. The powers of patronage and rule which would 
have been exercised under the President, over a vast, and populous, 
and naturally wealthy region, are greater than, unless under extreme 
necessity, I should be willing to entrust" to any one man ; they are 
such as, for myself, I could never, unless on occasions of great emerg- 
ency, consent to exercise. The willful use of such powers, if con- 
tinued through a period of years, would have endangered the purity 
of the general administration and the liberties of the States which 
remained loyal. 

Besides, the policy of military rule over a couquered territory 
would have implied that the States whose inhabitants may have 
taken part in the Rebellion had, by the act of those inhabitants, 
ceased to exist. But the true theory is, that all pretended acts of 
secession were, from the beginning, null and void. The States can- 
not commit treason, nor screen the individual citizens who may 
have committed treason, any more than they can make valid trea- 
ties, or engage in lawful commerce with any foreign Power. The 
States attempting to secede placed themselves in a condition where 
their vitality was impaired, but not extinguished — their functions 
suspended, but not destroyed. 

But if any State neglects or refuses to perform its offices, there is 
the more need that the General Government should maintain all its 
authority, and, as soon as practicable, resume the exercise of all its 
functions. On this principle I have acted, and have gradually and 
quietly, and by almost imperceptible steps, sought to restore the 
rightful energy of the General Government and of the States. To 
that end, Provisional Governors have been appointed for the States, 
Conventions called, Governors elected, Legislatures assembled, and 
Senators and Representatives chosen to the Congress of the United 
States. At the same time, the Courts of the United States, as far as 
could be done, have been re-opened, so that the laws of the United 
States may be enforced through their agency. The blockade has 
been removed, and the Custom-Houses reestablished in ports of entry, 
so that the revenue of the United States may be collected. The 



APPENDIX. 115 

Post-Office department renews its ceaseless activity, and the General 
Government is thereby enabled to communicate promptly with its 
officers and agents. The courts bring security to persons and pro- 
perty ; the opening of the ports invite the restoration of industry 
and commerce ; the post-office renews the facilities of social inter- 
course and of business. And is it not happy for us all that the res- 
toration of each one of these functions of the General Government 
brings with it a blessing to the States over which they are extended? 
Is it not a sure promise of harmony and renewed attachment to the 
Union that, after all that has happened, the return of the General 
Government is known only as a beneficence ? 

I know very well that this policy is attended with some risk ; that 
for its success it requires at least the acquiescence of the States which 
it concerns ; that it implies an invitation to those States, by renew- 
ing their allegiance to the United States, to resume their functions 
as States of the Union. But it is a risk that must be taken ; in the 
choice of difficulties it is the smallest risk ; and to diminish, and, if 
possible, to remove all danger, I have felt it incumbent on me to 
assert one other power of the General Government — the power to 
pardon. As no State can throw a defence over the crime of treason, 
the power of pardon is exclusively vested in the Executive Govern- 
ment of the United States. In exercising that power,. I have taken 
every precaution to connect it with the clearest recognition of the 
binding force of the laws of the United States, and an unqualified 
acknowledgment of the great social change of condition in regard 
to slavery which has grown out of the war. 

The next step which I have taken to restore the Constitutional re- 
lations of the States, has been an invitation to them to participate in 
the high office of amending the Constitution. Every patriot must 
wish for a general amnesty at the earliest epoch consistent with pub- 
lic safety. For this great end there is need of a concurrence of all 
opinions, and the spirit of mutual conciliation. All parties in the 
late terrible conflict must work together in harmony. It is not too 
much to ask, in the name of the whole people, that, on the one dde, 
the plan of restoration shall proceed in conformity with a willingness 
to cast the disorders of the past into oblivion ; and that, on the 
other, the evidence of sincerity in the future maintenance of the 
Union shall be put beyond any doubt by the ratification of the pro- 
posed amendment to the Constitution, which provides for the aboli- 
tion of Slavery forever within the limits of our country. So long as 
the adoption of this amendment is delayed, so long will doubt and 



I IC> 



.1/77 \7>/.\. 



jealousy and iiiii-i ii.iini v prevail, This li the measure which will 
,■ Hi. i,l memory of the punt ; thills fcho moasu re which will 
ni" i certainly cull population, and capital, and securitj to tho 
pari ol Hi' Union thai need thorn most Indeed, ii 1h nol too much 
i<< ;i i. ..i the States which are novi resuming their placet In the family 

of the I'n to give this plodgo of perpotual loyalty and pouoo. 

i ni 1 1 [t iit done, tho pait, however much wo may desir i ( .. [\\ nol 
I., ■ I'm ••.ii leu. Tho adoption of tho ameudmonl reunites us beyond 
nil powi i "i di iruptlon, li lioala the wound thai 1 1 still lmp< rfoctly 
olosi i . 1 1 romovi Bl i \ ory, the elomonl which lias 10 long par plezod 
mill dlvldod the country ; ii maltos <>i us once more a united pooplo, 
renewed and strengthened, bound more than over to mutual ull'ectioii 
and mpport, 

Tho amend menl to tho Constitution being adopted, ii would re 
in mi for the Stilton, whoso powors havo boon 10 long In abeyance, l<> 
i . umo their placet in tho two branches of tho National Logl luturo, 
Mud thorebj complete tho worh of restoration. Here ii It) for you, 
follow ■ hi n i of tho Somite, and for you, Follow <ii l&ons of tho House 
of Itcpresontatlvos, to Judge, eaoh of you for your olvos, of the oloo 
Lions, ri i urn i, and qualifications of your own members, 

Tin' lull assertion of tho poweri of tho Qonoral Qovornmonl n 
. I ii in i i Ih< holding of Oircull Courts of tho United States within tho 
districts where their authority hat boon Interrupted, [n the prcsonl 
posture of our public affairs, strong objootlont have boon urged to 
holding thoto courts In any of tho States where the rebellion hat 
oxl ted; und ii was ascertained, bj Inquiry, thai the Circuil Oouxi 
of tho United States would nol be hold within tho District of Vir 

ids durln the autumn or early winter, nor until Oongn is should 
havo "on opportunity i" oon Idor andacl on tho wholo subject," To 
your deliberations tho restoration of this branch of the <i\ii au 
thorlty of tho United Statoi Is therefore nocossarily referred, with 
the hope thai early provision will bo made for the resumption of :>ll 
Its functions, li Itmanifesl thai treason, mosl flagrant in character, 
hat boon oommittod, E*ersonH \\ ho aro charged with ii i < ominit ion 
should havo fair and Impartial trials i" the htghesl «iv ii tribunals of 
i lu> country, In order thai the Constitution and tho laws may bo fully 
vindicated; tho truth clearlj established and afHrmod thai treason 
■ i runic, that traitors should bo punishod and tho olfonce made In 
famous ; and, :>i tho Bamo time, that tho quostion may be judicially 

Ltled, finally and (brevet, that no State, of its own will, has the 
1 1 iii to ronouni o Its place in the Union, 



1/77'Y/'/ \ 



m 



Tin hi. ol tin Oon <ii Uovornmnnl toward Hi'- Ibui mill i 

<>l I II I III In 1,1 M I ■', will 'HI I III \ I III I III .1 |llt() III i 'I' HII, III-. "ill 

HIV Hi" I I (llU'lltl 'ii ' »n III' | H 1 1| il H I V "I ill I' ui|il III" to 

111 1 1 ' ■ I In- lii I' 1 1 in ii eli i I'll : Iiy I In ■ |.i..- I 1 1 1 till I ncuLl l 

toou Cor 1 1 1 v ' oun ' i Hi' (JoiiNtltuI i iii, Hh i ii i . 1 1 . . < i .< i i 

I ii ii in 1 1 hum ni ii , H tutln Ii lie iitnmporarl I I 

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when ii < M|..iM . il,., i, iii iii< ,i "i Member* ..I Hir Hon 

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ni' i' .i i i ii. number ol ii cloctoi , until now mil ■. ■■ i ii muIIVu 
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nervation ol power In tin habit* o! tho people, and no 1111411 

li boon Hi" imI,i|,iiIiI <>i Mm < 1,11 -i iiniii.il, thai during tho 

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■ f I- hh 'l any departuro by the ICxooutlvi from 11 policy ■■• I" 1 Ii 
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118 APPENDIX. 

settlement of the question is referred to the several States. They 
can, each for itself, decide on the measure, and whether it is to be 
adopted at once and absolutely, or introduced gradually and •with 
conditions. In my judgment, the freedmen, if they show patience 
and manly virtues, will sooner obtain a participation in the elective 
franchise through the States thau through the General Government, 
even if it had power to intervene. When the tumult of emotions 
that have been raised by the suddenness of the social change shall 
have subsided, it may prove that they will receive the kindliest 
usages from some of those on whom they have heretofore most 
closely depended. 

But while I have no doubt that now, after the close of the war, it 
is not competent for the General Government to extend the elective 
franchise in the several States, it is equally clear that good faith re- 
quires the security of the freedmen in their liberty and their pro- 
perty, their right to labor, and their right to claim the just return of 
their labor. I cannot too strongly urge a dispassionate treatment 
of this subject, which should be carefully kept aloof from all party 
strife. We must equally avoid hasty assumptions of any natural 
impossibility for the two races to live side by side, in a state of 
mutual benefit and good will. The experiment involves us in no 
inconsistency ; let us, then, go on and make that experiment in good 
faith, and not be too easily disheartened. The country is in need of 
labor, and the freedmen are in need of employment, culture and 
protection. While their right of voluntary migration and expatria- 
tion is not to be questioned, I would not advise their forced removal 
and colonization. Let us rather encourage them to honorable and 
useful industry, where it may be beneficial to themselves and to the 
country ; and, instead of hasty anticipations of the certainty of fail- 
ure, let there be nothing wanting to the fair trial of the experiment. 
The change in their condition is the substitution of labor by contract 
for the status of Slavery. The freedmen cannot fairly be accused 
of unwillingness to work, so long as a doubt remains about his free- 
dom of choice in his pursuits, and the certainty of his recovering 
his stipulated wages. In this the interests of the employer and the 
employed coincide. The employer desires in his workmen spirit 
and alacrity, and these can be permanently secured in no other way. 
And if the one ought to be able to enforce the contract, so ought the 
other. The public interest will be best promoted if the several 
States will provide adequate protection and remedies for the freed- 
men. Until this is in some way accomplished, there is no chance 



APPENDIX. 1 19 

for the advantageous use of their labor ; and the blame of ill-suc- 
cess will not rest on them. 

I know that sincere philanthropy is earnest for the immediate reali- 
zation of its remotest aims ; but time is always an element in reform. 
It is one of the greatest acts on record to have brought four millions 
of people into freedom. The career of free industry must be fairly 
opened to them, and then their future prosperity and condition must, 
after all, rest mainly on themselves. If they fail, and so perish 
away, let us be careful that the fadure shall not be attributable to any 
denial of justice. In all that relates to the destiny of the freedmen, 
we need not be too anxious to read the future ; many incidents 
which, from a speculative point of view, might raise alarm, will 
quietly settle themselves. 

Now that slavery is at an end or near its end, the greatness of its 
evil, in the point of view of public economy, becomes more and 
more apparent. Slavery was essentially a monopoly of labor, and 
as such locked the States where it prevailed against the incoming 
of free industry. Where labor was the property of the capitalist, 
the white man was excluded from employment, or had but the 
second best chance of finding it ; and. the foreign emigrant turned 
away from the region where his condition would be so precarious. 
With the destruction of the monopoly, free labor will hasten from 
all parts of the civilized world to assist in developing various and 
immeasurable resources which have hitherto lain dormant. The 
eight or nine States nearest the Gulf of Mexico have a soil of exu- 
berant fertility, a climate friendly to long life, and can sustain a 
denser population than is found as yet in any part of our country. 
And the future influx of population to them will be mainly from the 
North, or from the most cultivated nations of Europe. From the 
sufferings that have attended them during our late struggle, let us 
look away to the future, which is sure to be laden for them with 
greater prosperity than has ever before been known. The removal 
of the monopoly of slave labor is a pledge that those regions will 
be peopled by a numerous and enterprising population, which will 
vie with any in the Union in compactness, inventive genius, wealth, 
and industry. 

Our Government springs from and was made for the people — not 
the people for the Government. To them it owes allegiance ; from 
them it must derive its courage, strength and wisdom. But, while 
the Government is thus bound to defer to the people, from whom it 
derives its existence, it should, from the very consideration of its 



120 APPENDIX. 

origin, be strong in its power of resistance to the establishment of 
inequalities. Monopolies, perpetuities, and class legislation, are con- 
trary to the genius of free government, and ought not to be allowed. 
Here, there is no room for favore<l classes or monopolies, the princi- 
ple of our Government is that of equal laws and freedom of indus- 
try. "Wherever mono2)oly attains a foothold, it is sure to be a source 
of danger, discord, and trouble. We shall but fulfill our duties as 
legislators by according " equal and exact justice to all men,'" special 
privileges to none. The Government is subordinate to the people ; 
but, as the agent and representative of the people, it must be held 
superior to monopolies, which, in themselves, ought never to be 
granted, and which, where they exist, must be subordinate and yield 
to the Government. 

The Constitution confers on Congress the right to regulate com- 
merce among the several States. It is of the first necessity, for the 
maintenance of the Union, that that commerce should be free and 
unobstructed. No State can be justified in any device to tax the 
transit of travel and commerce between States. The position of 
many States is such, that if they were allowed to take advantage 
of it for purposes of local revenue, the commerce between States 
might be injuriously burdened, or even virtually prohibited. It is 
best, while the country is still young, and while the tendency to 
dangerous monopolies of this kind is still feeble, to use the power 
of Congress so as to prevent any selfish impediment to the free cir- 
culation of men and merchandise. A tax on travel and merchandise, 
in their transit, constitutes one of the worst forms of monopoly, and 
the evil is increased if coupled with a denial of the choice of route. 
When the vast extent of our country is considered, it is plain that 
every obstacle to the free circulation of commerce between the States 
ought to be sternly guarded against by appropriate legislation, 
withiu the limits of the Constitution. 

The report of the Secretary of the Interior explains the condition 
of the public lands, the transactions of the Patent Office and the 
Pension Bureau, the management of our Indian affairs, the progress 
made in the construction of the Pacific Railroad, and furnishes 
Information in reference to matters of local interest in the District 
of Columbia. It also presents evidence of the successful operation 
of the Homestead Act, under the provisions of which 1,160,533 
acres of the public lands were entered during the last fiscal year — 
more than one fourth of the whole number of acres sold or other- 
wise disposed of during that period. It is estimated that the receipts 



APPENDIX. 121 

derived from this source are sufficient to cover tlie expenses incident 
to the survey and disposal of the lands entered under this act, and 
that payments in cash to the extent of from 40 to 50 per cent will be 
made by settlers, who may thus at any time acquire title before the 
expiration of the period at which it would otherwise vest. The 
homestead policy was established only after long- and earnest resist- 
ance : experience proves it wisdom. The lands, in the hands of 
industrious settlers, whose labor creates wealth and contributes to 
the public resources, are worth more to the United States than if 
they had been reserved as a solitude for future purchasers. 

The lamentable events of the last four years, and the sacrifices 
made by the gallant men of our Army and Navy, have swelled the 
records of the Pension Bureau to an unprecedented extent. On the 
30th day of June last, the total number of pensioners was 85,086, re- 
quiring for their annual pay, exclusive of expenses, the sum of $8,023, 
445. The number of applications that have been allowed since that 
date will require a large increase of this amount for the next fiscal 
year. The means for the payment of the stipends due, under existing 
laws, to our disabled soldiers and sailors, and to the families of such 
as have perished in the service of the country, will no doubt be 
cheerfully and promptly granted. A grateful people will not hesi- 
tate to sanction any measures having for their object the relief of 
soldiers mutilated and families made fatherless in the efforts to pre- 
serve our national existence. 

The report of the Postmaster General presents an encouraging 
exhibit of the operations of the Post Office Department during the 
year. The revenues of the past year from the loyal States alone, 
exceeded the maximum annual receipts from all the States previous to 
the Rebellion, in the sum of $6,038,091 ; and the annual average 
increase of revenue during the last four years, compared with the 
revenues of the four years immediately preceding the Rebellion, a. 
$3,533,845. The revenues of the last fiscal year amounted to 
$14,556,158, and the expenditures to $13,694,728, leaving a surplus 
of receipts over expenditures of $861,430. Progress has been made 
in restoring the postal service in the Southern States. The views 
presented by the Postmaster General against the policy of granting 
subsidies to ocean mail steamship lines upon established routes, and 
in favor of continuing the present system, which limits the compen- 
sation for ocean service to the postage earnings, are recommended to 
the careful consideration of Congress. 

It appears, from the report of the Secretary of the Navy, that 



122 APPENDIX. 

while, at the commencement of the present year, there were in com- 
mission 530 vessels of all classes and descriptions, armed with 3,000 
guns, and manned by 51,000 men, the number of vessels at present 
in commission is 117, with 830 guns and 12,128 men. By this 
prompt reduction of the naval forces the expenses of the Govern- 
ment have been largely diminished, and a number of vessels, pur- 
chased for naval purposes from the merchant marine, have been 
returned to the peaceful pursuits of commerce. Since the suppres- 
sion of active hostilities our foreign squadrons have been re-estab- 
lished, and consist of vessels much more efficient than those employed 
on similar service previous to the rebellion. The suggestion for the 
enlargement of the Navy Yards, and especially for the establishment 
of one in fresh water for iron-clad vessels, is deserving of considera- 
tion, as is also the recommendation for a different location and more 
ample grounds for the Naval Academy. 

In the report of the Secretary of War, a general summary is given 
of the military campaigns of 1864 and 1865, ending in the suppres- 
sion of armed resistance to the national authority in the insurgent 
States. The operations of the general administrative Bureaus of the 
War Department during the past year are detailed, and an estimate 
made of the appropriations that will be required for military pur- 
poses in the fiscal year commencing the 30th day of June, 1866. 
The national military force on the 1st of May, 1865, numbered 
1,000,516 men. It is proposed to reduce the military establishment 
to a peace footing, comprehending 50,000 troops of all arms, orga- 
nized so as to admit of an enlargement by filling up the rank3 to 
82,600, if the circumstances of the country should require an aug- 
mentation of the army. The volunteer force has already been re- 
duced by the discharge from service of over 800,000 troops, and the 
Department is proceeding rapidly in the work of further reduction. 
The war estimates are reduced from $516,240,131 to $33,814,461, 
which amount, in the opinion of the Department, is adequate for a 
peace establishment. The measures of retrenchment in each Bureau 
and branch of the service exhibit a diligent economy worthy of com- 
mendation. Reference is also made in the report to the necessity 
of providing for a uniform militia system, and to the propriety of 
making suitable provision for wounded and disabled officers and 
soldiers. 

The revenue system of the country is a subject of vital interest to 
its honor and prosperity, and should command the earnest considera- 
tion of Congress. The Secretary of the Treasury will lay before you 



APPENDIX. 123 

a full and detailed report of the receipts and disbursements of the 
last fiscal year, of the first quarter of the present fiscal year, of the 
probable receipts and expenditures for the other three quarters, and 
the estimates for the year following the 30th of June, 1866. I might 
content myself with a reference to that report, in which you will 
find all the information required for your deliberations and decision. 
But the paramount importance of the subject so presses itself on my 
own mind, that I cannot but lay before you my views of the measures 
which are required for the good character, and, I might almost say, 
for the existence of this people. The life of a Republic lies cer- 
tainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence of its citizens ; but it 
is equally true that a good revenue system is the life of an organized 
Government. I meet you at a time when the nation has voluntarily 
burdened itself with a debt unprecedented in our annals. Vast as 
is its amount, it fades away into nothing when compared with the 
countless blessings that will be conferred upon our country and 
upon man by the preservation of the nation's life. Now, on the first 
occasion of the meeting of Congress since the return of peace, it is 
of the utmost importance to inaugurate a just policy, which shall 
at once be put in motion, and which shall commend itself to those 
who come after us for its continuance. "We must aim at nothing 
less than the complete effacement of the financial evils that neces- 
sarily followed a state of civil war. We must endeavor to apply 
the earliest remedy to the deranged state of the currency, and not 
shrink from devising a policy, which, without being oppressive to 
the people, shall immediately begin to effect a reduction of the debt, 
and, if persisted in, discharge it fully within a definitely fixed num- 
ber of years. 

It is our first duty to prepare in earnest for our recovery from the 
ever-increasing evils of an irredeemable currency, with a sudden 
revulsion, and yet without untimely procrastination. For that end, 
we must, each in our respective positions, prepare the way. I hold 
it the d u ty of the Executive to insist upon frugality in the expend- 
itures ; and a sparing economy is itself a great national resource. 
Of the banks to which authority has been given to issue notes 
secured by bonds of the United States, we may require the greatest 
moderation and prudence, and the law must be rigidly enforced 
when its limits are exceeded. We may, each one of us, counsel our 
active and enterprising countrymen to be constantly on their guard, 
to liquidate debts contracted in a paper currency, and, by conducting 
business as nearly as possible on a system of cash payments or short 



Ui APPEXDIX. 

credits, to bold themselves prepared to return to tlie standard of 
gold and silver. To aid our fellow-citizens in the prudent manage- 
ment of their monetary affairs, the duty devolves on us to diminish 
by law the amount of paper money now in circulation. Five years 
ago the bank-note circulation of the country amounted to not much 
more than two hundred millions ; now the circulation, bank and 
national, exceeds seven hundred millions. The simple statement of 
the fact recommends more strongly than any words of mine could 
do, the necessity of our restraining this expansion. The gradual 
reduction of the currency is the only measure that can save the busi- 
ness of the country from disastrous calamities; and this can be 
almost imperceptibly accomplished by gradually funding the na- 
tional circulation in securities that may be made redeemable at the 
pleasure of the Government. 

Our debt is doubly secure — first in the actual wealth and still 
greater undeveloped resources of the country ; and next in the char- 
acter of our institutions. The most intelligent observers among 
political economists have not failed to remark, that the public debt 
of a country is safe in proportion as its people are free ; that the 
debt cf a republic is the safest of all. Our history confirms and 
establishes the theory, and is, I firmly believe, destined to give it a 
still more signal illustration. The secret of this superiority springs 
not merely from the fact, that in a republic the national obligations 
are distributed more widely through countless numbers in all classes 
•of society ; it has its root in the character of our laws. Here all 
men contribute to the public welfare, and bear their fair share of the 
public burdens. During the war, under the impulses of patriotism, 
the men of the great body of the people, without regard to their 
own comparative want of wealth, thronged to our armies and filled 
our fleets of war, and held themselves ready to offer their lives for 
the public good. Now, in their turn, the property and income of 
the country should bear their just proportion of the burden of taxa- 
tion, while in our impost system, through means of which increased 
vitality is incidentally imparted to all the industrial interests of the 
nation, the duties should be so adjusted as to fall most heavily on 
articles of luxury, leaving the necessaries of life as free from taxation 
as the absolute wants of the Government, economically administered, 
will justify. No favored class should demand freedom from assess- 
ment, and the taxes should be so distributed as not to fall unduly 
on the poor, but rather on the accumulated wealth of the country. 
We should look at the national debt just as it is— not as a national 



APPEXDIX. 125 

blessing, but as a heavy burden on the industry of the country, to 
be discharged without unnecessary delay. 

It is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury that the expend- 
itures for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 18G6, will exceed 
the receipts $112,194,947. It is gratifying, however, to state that it 
is also estimated that the revenue for the year ending the 30th of 
June, 1867, will exceed the expenditures in the sum of $111,682,818. 
This amount, or sc much as may be deemed sufficient for the pur- 
pose, may be applied to the reduction of the public debt, which, on 
the 31st day of October, 1865, was $2,740,854,750. Every reduction 
will diminish the total amount of interest to be paid, and so enlarge 
the means of still further reductions, until the whole shall be liqui- 
dated ; and this, as will be seen from the estimates of the Secretary 
of the Treasury, may be accomplished by annual payments even 
within a period not exceeding thirty years. I have faith that we 
shall do all this within a reasonable time ; that, as we have amazed 
the world by the suppression of a civil war which was thought to 
be beyond the control of any Government, so we shall equally show 
the superiority of our institutions by the prompt and faithful dis- 
charge of our naticnal obligations. 

The Department of Agriculture, under its present direction, is ac- 
complishing much in developing and utilizing the vast agricultural 
capabilities of the country, and for information respecting the details 
of its management, reference is made to the annual report of the 
Commissioner. 

I have dwelt thus fully on our domestic affairs because of their 
transcendent importance. Under any circumstances, our great ex- 
tent of territory and variety of climate, producing almost everything 
that is necessary for the wants, and even the comforts of man, makes 
us singularly independent of the varying policy of foreign powers, 
and protect us against every temptation to " entangling alliances," 
while at the present moment the reestablishment of harmony, and 
the strength that comes from harmony, will be our best security 
against " nations who feel power and forget right." For myself, it 
has been and it will be my constant aim to promote peace and amity 
with all foreign nations and powers ; and I have every reason to be- 
lieve that they all, without exception, are animated by the same dis- 
position. Our relations with the Emperor of China, so recent in 
their origin, are most friendly. Our commerce with his dominions 
is receiving new developments ; and it is very pleasing to find that 
the Government of that great Empire manifests satisfaction with our 



126 APPENDIX. 

policy, and reposes just confidence in the fairness which marks our 
intercourse. The unbroken harmony between the United States and 
the Emperor of Russia is receiving a new support from an enterprise 
designed to cany telegraphic lines across the continent of Asia, 
through his dominions, and so to connect us with all Europe by a 
new channel of intercourse. Our commerce with South America is 
about to receive encouragement by a direct line of mail steamships 
to the rising empire of Brazil. The distinguished party of men of 
science who have recently left our country to make a scientific ex- 
ploration of the natural history and rivers ' and mountain ranges of 
that region, have received from the Emperor that generous 'welcome 
which was to have been expected from his constant friendship for 
the United States, and his well-known zeal in promoting the ad- 
vancement of knowledge. A hope is entertained that our commerce 
with the rich and populous countries that border the Mediterranean 
Sea may be largely increased. Nothing will be wanting on the part 
of this Government, to extend the protection of our flag over the 
enterprise of our fellow-citizens. We receive from the Pcwersin that 
region assurances of good- will ; and it is worthy of note that a spe- 
cial envoy has brougbt'us messages of condolence on the death of our 
late Chief Magistrate from the Bey of Tunis, whose rule includes the 
old dominions of Carthage, oh the African coast. 

Our domestic contest, new happily ended, has left some traces in 
our relations with one at least of the great maritime powers. The 
formal accordance of belligerent rights to the insurgent States was 
unprecedented, and has not been justified by the issue. But in the 
systems of neutrality pursued by the Powers which made that con- 
cession, there was a marked difference. The materials of war for 
the insurgent States were furnished, in a great measure, from tho 
workshops of Great Britain ; and British ships, manned by British 
subjects, and prepared for receiving British armaments, sallied from 
the ports of Great Britain to make war on American commerce, 
under the shelter of a commission from the insurgent States. These 
ships, having once escaped from British ports, ever afterward entered 
them in every part of the world, to refit, and so to renew their de- 
predations. The consequences of this conduct were most disastrous 
to the States then in rebellion, increasing their desolation and misery 
by the prolongation of our civil contest. It had, moreover, the effect, 
to a great extent, to drive the American flag from the sea, and to 
transfer much of our shipping and our commerce to the very Power 
whose subjects had created the necessity for such a change. These 



APPENDIX. 127 

events took place before I was called to the administration of the 
Government. The sincere desire for peace by which I am animated 
led me to approve the proposal, already made, to submit the ques- 
tions which had thus arisen between the countries, to arbitration. 
These questions are of such moment that they must have commanded 
the attention of the great Powers, and are so interwoven with the peace 
and interests of every one of them as to have ensured an impartial 
decision. I regret to inform you that Great Britain declined the 
arbitrament, but, on the other hand, invited us to the formation of a 
joint commission to settle mutual claims between the two countries, 
from which those for the depredations before mentioned should be 
excluded. The proposition, in that very unsatisfactory form, has 
been declined. 

The United States did not present the subject as an impeachment 
of the good faith of a Power which was professing the most friendly 
dispositions, but as involving questions of public law, of which the 
settlement is essential to the peace of nations ; and, though pecuni- 
ary reparation to their injured citizens would have followed inci- 
dentally on a decision against Great Britain, such compensation was 
not then- primary object. They had a higher motive, and it was in 
the interests of peace and justice to establish important principles of 
international law. The correspondence will be placed before you. 
The ground on which the British Minister rests his justification is, 
substantially, that the municipal law of a nation, and the domestic 
interpretations of that law, are the measure of its duty as a neutral ; 
and I feel bound to declare my ojnnion, before you and before the 
world, that that justification cannot be sustained before the tribunal 
of nations. At the same time I do not advise to any present attempt 
at redress by acts of legislation. For the future, friendship between 
the two countries must rest on the basis of mutual justice. 

From the moment of the establishment of our free Constitution, 
the civilized world has been convulsed by revolutions in the interests 
of democracy or of monarchy : but through all those revolutions the 
United States have wisely and firmly refused to become propagan- 
dists of republicanism. It is the only government suited to our con- 
dition; but we have never sought to impose it on otheis; and we 
have consistently followed the advice of Washington to recommend 
it only by the careful preservation and prudent use of the blessing. 
During all the intervening period the policy of European Powers 
and of the United States has, on the whole, been harmonious. Twice, 
indeed, rumors of the invasion of some parts of America, in the in- 



128 APPEFDIX. 

terest of monarchy, have prevailed ; twice my predecessors have had 
occasion to announce the views of this nation ia respect to such inter- 
ference. On both occasions the remonstrance of the United States was 
respected, from a deep conviction, on the part of European Govern- 
ments, that the system of non-interference and mutual abstinence 
from propagandism was the true rule for the two hemispheres. Since 
those times we have advanced in wealth and power ; but we retain 
the same purpose to leave the nations of Europe to choose their own 
dynasties and form their own systems of government. This consist- 
ent moderation may justly demand a corresponding moderation. We 
should regard it as a great calamity to ourselves, to the cause of good 
government, and to the peace of the world, should any European 
Power challenge the American people, as it were, to the defense of 
republicanism against foreign interference. We cannot foresee and 
are unwilling to consider what opportunities might present them- 
selves, what combinations might offer to protect ourselves against 
designs inimical to our form of government. The United States de- 
sire to act in the future as they have ever acted heretofore ; they 
never will be driven from that course but by the aggression of Euro- 
pean Powers ; and we rely on the wisdom and justice of those Powers 
to respect the system of non-interference wdiich has so long been 
sanctioned by time, and which, by its good results, has approved 
itself to both continents. 

The correspondence between the United States and France, in ref- 
erence to questions which have become subjects of discussion be- 
tween the two Governments, will, at the proper time, be laid before 
Congress. 

When, on the organization of our Government, under the Consti- 
tution, the President of the United States delivered his Inaugural 
address to the two Houses of Congress, he said to them, and through 
them to the country and to mankind, that the "preservation of the 
sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of gov- 
ernment are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked on 
the experiment intrusted to the American people." And the House 
of Representatives answered Washington by the voice of Madison : 
" We adore the invisible hand which has led the American people, 
through so many difficulties, to cherish a conscious responsibility for 
the destiny of republican liberty." More than seventy-six years have 
glided away since these words were spoken ; the United States have 
passed through severer trials than were foreseen ; and now, at this 
new epoch in our existence as one nation, with our Union purified 



APPENDIX. 129 

by sorrows and strengthened by conflict, and established by the vir- 
tue of the people, the greatness of the occasion invites us once more 
to repeat, with solemnity, the pledges of our fathers to hold ourselves 
answerable before our fellow-men for the success of the Republican 
form of government. Experience has proved its sufficiency in peace 
and in war ; it has vindicated its authority through dancers, and 
afflictions, and sudden and terrible emergencies, which would have 
crushed any system that had been less firmly fixed in the heart of the 
people. At the inauguration of Washington the foreign relations of 
the country were few, and its trade was repressed by hostile regula- 
tions ; now all the civilized nations of the globe welcome our com- 
merce, and their Governments prcfess toward us amity. Then our 
country felt its way hesitatingly along an untried path, with States 
so little bound together by rapid means of communication as to be 
hardly known to one another, and with historic traditions extending 
over very few years ; now intercourse between the States is swift and 
intimate ; the experience of centuries has been crowded into a few 
generations, and has created an intense, indestructible nationality. 
Then our jurisdiction did not reach beyond the inconvenient boun- 
daries of the territory which had achieved independence ; now, 
through cessions of lands, first colonized by Spain and France, the 
country has acquired a more complex character, and has for its natu- 
ral limits the chain of Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and on the east and 
west the two great oceans. Other nations were wasted by civil wars 
for ages before they could establish for themselves the necessary de- 
gree of unity ; the latent conviction that our form of government is 
the best ever known to the world, has enabled us to emerge from 
civil war within four years, with a complete vindication of the con- 
stitutional authority of the General Government, and with our local 
liberties and State institutions unimpaired. The throngs of emi- 
grants that crowd to our shores are witnesses of the confidence of all 

O 

peoples in our permanence. Here is the great land of free labor, 
where industry is blessed with unexampled rewards, and the bread 
of the workingman is sweetened by the consciousness that the cause 
of the country " is his own cause, his own safety, his own dignity." 
Here every one enjoys the free use of his faculties and the choice of 
activity as a natural right. Here, under the combined influence of a 
fruitful soil, genial climes, and happy institutions, population has 
increased fifteen-fold within a century. Here, through the easy de- 
velopment of boundless resources, wealth has increased with two-fold 
greater rapidity than numbers, so that we have become secure against 



130 APPENDIX. 

the financial vicissitudes of other countries, and, alike in business 
and in opinion, are self-centered and truly independent. Here more 
and more care is given to provide education for every one bom on 
our soil. Here religion, released from political connexion with the 
Civil Government, refuses to subserve the craft of statesmen, and be- 
comes, in its independence, the spiritual life of the people. Here 
toleration is extended to every opinion, in the quiet certainty that 
truth needs only a fair field to secure the victory. Here the human 
mind goes forth unshackled in the pursuit of science, to collect stores 
of knowledge and acquire an ever-increasing mastery over the forces 
of nature. Here the national domain is offered and held in millions 
of sejjarate freeholds, so that our fellow-citizens, beyond the occu- 
pants of any other part of the earth, constitute in reality a people. 
Here exists the democratic form of government ; and that form of 
government, by the confession of European statesmen, "gives a 
power of which no other form is capable, because it incorporates 
every man with the State, and arouses everything that belongs to 
the soul." 

Where, in past history, does a parallel exist to the public happiness 
which is within the reach of the people of the United States ? Where, 
in any part of the globe, can institutions be found so suited to their 
habits or so entitled to their love as their own free Constitution ? 
Every one of them, then, in whatever part of the land he has his 
home, must wish its perpetuity. Who of them will not acknowledge, 
in the words of Washington, that " every step by which the people 
of the United States have advanced to the character of an independ- 
ent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of Prov- 
idential agency ?" Who will not join with me in the prayer, that 
the invisible Hand which has led us through the clouds that gloomed 
around our path, will so guide us onward to a perfect restoration of 
fraternal affection, that we of this day may be able to transmit our 
great inheritance, of State Governments in all their rights, of the 
General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, to our poster- 
ity, and they to theirs through countless generations ? 

ANDREW JOHNSON. 
Washington, December 4, 1865. 



INDEX 



A. 

Pare 
Abbott, Captain, First Tenn. Battery.. 27G 

Abduction of Slaves. See Seward 

A Beautiful Seine — the President and 

the Children 376 

Adams, ('. V 'JUS 

Adams, J. Q. 3D 

ObservingBTew Members of Congress 108 
Predicts Distinction for Jeff. Davis.. 169 

Adams. J. 11 221 

Address of Certain Senators and Con- 
gressmen to the South 209. Signers 210 
Addresses, Letters, Orders, Proclama- 
tions, Speeches, etc., of Andrew 
Johnson 

Opposing the Tariff of 1S42 31 

Favoring Texan Annexation 31 

Civil and Religious Liberty — Defence 

of the Catholics 84 

On Indiscriminate Expenditure 3D 

Prosecution of the Mexican War.... 40 

The Veto Power 42 

On Know-Nothingism 40 

On Homestead Bill, ls52 52 

On Homestead Bill, 26th May, 1868. . 6n 
On Homestead BUI, 11th April, 1860. 72 
Against Increase of the Standing 

Army, 18th February, 1858 100 

On Tennessee Resolutions 115 

On Retrenchment 123 

On Pacific Railroad 125 

The Slavery Question 131* 

Compromises 143 

Withdrawing his name from before 
National Democratic Convention, 

186" 14S 

The Constitutionality and Rightful- 
ness of Secession, in U. S. Senate, 

18th and 19th December, 1-6 > 212 

The State of the Union, in U. S. Sen- 
ate. 5th and 6th February. 1S61. ... 223 
Reply to Senator Lane of Oregon, in 

T." S. Senate. 2d March, 1>61 230 

In full, see Appendix. 

At Cincinnati, June 19. 1861 237 

At Extra Session of IT. S. Senate, 
after the Battle of Bull Bun. Re- 
view of 241 245 

In full. See Appendix 
In U. S. Senate, on Expulsion of 
Jesse I). Bright, Jane 31, 1862. Re- 
viewed.. . 7 245 

In full. See Appendix 



Page 

Appeal and Proclamation to the Peo- 
ple of Tennessee, March 18th, 1862 250 

Address Welcoming the 0s)th Ohio to 
Nashville 257 

Proclamation of Retaliation against 
Guerillas, May 9, 1862 259 

At Mass Convention in House of 
Representatives, Nashville, May 
12, 1862 260 

At Union Demonstration at Mur- 
freesboro 1 , May 24 263 

To Minnesota and Michigan Soldiers, 
May 26 265 

On Slavery, at Nashville, July 4 269 

Proclamation Ordering Elections for 
Congress 279 

On the Emancipation Proclamation, 
at Columbus, Ohio, March 8, 1-68.. 2S2 

Proclamation Ordering Elections, 
January 26th, 1S64 . . ". 2S4 

After his Nomination for Vice-Presi- 
dent, at Mass Meeting, Nashville.. 291 

Official Letter of Acceptance, July 2, 
1864. 297 

Letter to Eev. Dr. Cox — Influence of 
the Churches 309 

Letter to J. W. Wright, Ind., August 
21, 1S64 — Organization of Tennes- 
see 303, 310 

At Louisville — Hypocrisy of South- 
ern Leaders, and the Future of the 
Negro 319 

At Logansport. Ind., October, 1864— 
On Allusions to his Youth 311 

Test Oath Prescribed for Voters at 
Presidential Election 814 

At Torchlight Procession, Nashville, 
November, lb64 — Freedom to 
All 315 

Inaugural as Vice-President, at Na- 
tional Capitol, March 4, 1S65 316 

At Washington, April 3, 1S05, on the 
Fall of Richmond 319 

On taking the Oath of Office as Presi- 
dent of the United States, Washing- 
ton, April 15, 1S65 325 

To the Illinois Delegation, April 
17, at Treasury Department 337 

To Pennsylvania Delegation, Against 
Monopolies and Aristocracies 341 

To Sir Frederick Bruce, British Am- 
bassador. April 25 343 

To Diplomatic Corps 845 



INDEX. 



Page 
To Refugees from Insurrectionary 

24th April.. '. 347 

On Removal of Trade Restrictions, 



April 29 



To Delegation of Swiss Residents, 
May 1. 354 

Order for Military Commission to try 

the Assassin Conspirators 854 

irds for the Conspirators 355 

Approving Trade Regulations for the 
South, 9th May 360 

On Virtual ( I - ol The Rebellion, 
and Foreign Hospitality to Rebel 
Cruisers, 20th May 802 

To Delegation of Colored Clergymen 
and others, 11th May 363 

To Marquis de Montholon, French 
Ambassador. 13th May 365 

Opening Southern Ports to Foreign 
Commerce — Disavowal of Bellig- 
erent Rights, 22d May 36T 

Remission of Sentences by Military 
Tribunals 300 

Amnesty Proclamation. 29th May... 370 

North i i ■ ! ruction Proc- 
lamation, 29th May 874 

To Children and Teachers of the City 

il Union, 29th May..'. 376 

Further Removal of Trade Restric- 
tions 

To Colored Delegation from Rich- 
mond, Va SS2 

To • tional Council at Boston, 
19th dune 882 

Removal of all Trade Restrictions, 
24th June 3-8 

To South Carolina Delegation — Res- 
Lon — Negro Suffrage — Position 
of the South". 884 

To Gettysburg Monument Associa- 
tion. 4th July 8SS 

To Delegation of Virginia Merchants 
—The Thirteen Exceptions of the 
Amnesty Proclamation 390 

To < Sovernor Brownlow on Tennessee 
Elections S.i-1 

To Missis i G mention 8'.'9 

To M. M 
Minister .' . 400 

Freedom of Trade 400 

Military Interference issippi. 401 

Order on Major Gi neral Slo- 
cum .' 402 

Importan Spi i ch to Representatives 
of Nine Southern States, 11th f 
* .her 408 

On Settlement of Freedmen 90 

To the Negro Soldiers 90 

Paroles A. H. Stephens and others.. 95 

Rescinding Martial Law in Kentucky 95 
Administration, Buchanan's, Hatred of 

161 

Urges Seward to give up McLeod. . . 167 

' A four-leaved Clover.'' Effect of 267 

1 1; aider 14 

: ianism" 5u 

1 Fattier of the State.. 61 

Agriculture, Vattel on 61 

Aiken, W. A., of South Carolina 3ss 

A King for Tennessee 243 



Pace 

222 

Northern Occupied by Union Troops 255 
Fall Back from. ib. 

Ambition, Johnson's First 15 

Amendments to the Constitution bj 

Johnson 213 

American Steamer burned by McLeod 11.6 

Amnesty, Proclamation of... 370 

Per-> I id from 371 

Virginia Merc ar- 
te* nth Exception stricken out 390 

Tin ir Interview with the President - 391 
Anderson. Major R., Transfers his Gar- 
rison from Moultrie to Sumter.... 220 

Anderson, General S. K 

Surprised at Lavergne 274, 275 

Andrew, Governor, of Massachnsetl 
Animadversions on Johnson's Inaugu- 
ral 316-318 

An Impromptu Levee 379 

Annexation of Texas, Johnson's Rea- 
son's for 32 

Antagonistic Views of Supporters of 

Meridian and Pendleton 303, 304 

Anthony, H. B., Senator 203 

A "Plebeian" 317 

Apologisi of Idleness 22 

Appen 

No. 1. Speech in Reply to Senator 
of Oregon, in U. S. Senate, 
March 2,1861. 
No 2. Secession of Tennessee. See 15. 
An Act to submit a Declaration of In- 
the People, and for 
other purposes — Declaration of In- 
dependence and Ordinance of Se- 
1 m — Extract from an Address 
of Joint Committee of Tenni 

slature — Call for a Convention 
People of Bast Tennessee — 
Ratification of the League between 
Commissioners and Con- 
ate States. 
No. 3. Great Speech on the War for 
the Union after the Battle of Bull 
Run, in U. S. Senate. July 27, 1861 19 
No. 4. Speech on the Proposed Ex- 
ion of Mr. Jesse D. Bright, "... 

U. S. Senate, January 31, 1862 (3 

No. 5. President Johuson's Opinion 

on the Use 'of Ardent Spirits s7 

No. 6. TheHomeof Andrew Johnson S3 
No. 7. Order Relating ( 

1 of the Freedmen 90 

No. 3. Speech to the Negro Soldiers. 90 
No. 9. The President Paroli s A. II. 

Stephens and others 95 

No. 10. Proclamation Rescinding Mar- 
tial Law in Kentucky 95 

No. 11. Interesting Interview of 

South Carolina Delegates 96 

Appei sun. J. L 390 

Appomattox Court House. Lee Sur- 
renders at 

Apprenticeship. Johnson's Expires 15 

Appropriation Bills, Haunt the Senate. 
5S. Johnson on, 58-60. A broad 

Axe io Slay other Measures 60 

Appropriations greater than Expendi- 
ture 101 



IXDEX. 



rgyman Seeking Pat-don . . . '3'.'8 
Arm ■ . rnpean, • omposed 

105, 106 

Or : and Geor- 



V' " :;i)7 

ub- 
i I A. Johi 
. , 
Opposition to, I I ontemp- 

;. 
Character of Debate on, 100. I 

ter on, 109. As Adopted 118 

Army, Exj from the Establish- 

ii.iiii of the Government 102 

Army Regular, Toombs Opp i ' to.. . 106 

Arnold, 1. X 

Arnold, B., Imprisoned for Life 

Arteries by which Governments are 

Bled ... 134 

Ashmore, J. D 205 

Ashmun, Geo., Induces Douglas to 
Confer with Lincoln, 163. Account 

of the Conference.... 163 

Asken, Colonel John A. Defeated by 

■Johnson 29 

A Slave. Johnson's Definition, 09. 
Every man a Slave who docs not 

own a Slave 7" 

Aristocracy of Democracy 55 

Spurious 22 

vs. Rabble 106 

Assassination Conspirators, Commis- 
sion to Try, 304. Their Fate 390 

Astor, Wm. B 341 

Atlanta Campaign 3uG 

us Terrorism in Tennessee 234 

Atrocities, Rebel 262,268,270, 272 

Atzeroth, ( 1. A., Hanged 390 

A United South, Davis' Reliance ou. . . 172 



B. 



Bacon. Francis, on the Growth of " Xo- 

Bancroft, G., his Lecture on General 

Jackson 01 

'■ Banner." the Nashville 253 

Baugh, Mayor of Memphis '243 

Barnes, Colonel S. M., 8th Ky., Notifies 
Governor Johnson of Danger from 

Guerillas. , 207 

well, R. W 221 

Barrow, Mrs. Wash., her Claims 258 

Bay; rd, J. A., Senator, Chairman of Se- 

rs Convention l5o, 181 208 

Beauregard, < leneral 255 

Uel!. lator, 29-48. Ri 

be [nstrm . 115. 

lict with Johnso i, ib., 110. 
ml Explanations, 117. Not 
• - Competitor," 116. 15o, 
175. Nominated for Presidency 178 
Bell, R. Life of Canning alluded to... 252 
Benjamin, J. P. . 57, 150, ITS, 

223. On Disunion. 225. On Lie 

b , 261. Johnson on 224 
ing, 11. S 192 



<", 57. r ■ 

Veto on : ead l.iil 

or 

Bill, ■• Cril i 



ii 

Black, J. S., Attorney-General ... 
lr,F. P ' 

Blair, Montgomery 

Blessings of Popular Govei 

Blizzard, A 

Blue Coatsand Buttera 

by Johnson al Mm 

ii. M. I T.)4. 21 

sh Tailor " 

Booth, J. \\\, Assassin of President, 
Shot 

Borden, Rev. Mr., Address< 

1 1 

, VV. W 201, 2U4. 209, 

General, 25E Planks Buell, 
272. Defeated at Perryville, Ky.. 
278. En Mur- 

freesboro', ib. Falls Back in 
Confusion upon Bridgeport, 
280. Retreat, across I i. I erland 
Mountain and Tennessee River. .. . 

Brcarly D., Reports the Creation of a 
\ ice-President to thi tution 

Breckenrldge, J. ("'.. Vice- r< 

• Address on Removing from the Old 
to the New Senate Chainl ei 
Nominated for President, 1>". 
Position of ib. And Lane. Dis- 
union Candidates, 181. 
Accepting the Nomination, ls2. 
Used by the Managi 
Leaders Fomenl Etebi ioi 

Bright, Jesse 1>.. Senator, Administers 
the Oath to Johnson, 51. 14 
Resolution Expelling him from the 
IT. S. Senate, 2-15. Johnson'- Speech 
on Review al. 245. In full, 
Appendix. Co-operates with, 
Bends the Knee to the South, 245. 
Opposed to every Union Measure, 
246. And Johnson, Relations Be- 
tween 

British Minister's Demand Refused by 
Governor Seward 

Broderick, D. ('.. Senator. 58. Supports 
the Pacific Railroad Bill. 131. Self- 
made Man, ib. Described by 
Toombs, 132. Contrasted with 
Johnson, ib. His Reasons for 
Demanding the Road, 138. I 
in a Duel. 134. Character, 135. On 
the Strength and Weakness of the 
Working Classes, ib., 186. Allu- 
sion to his Father, and 

own Struggles, ib. Death 
Announced in Congress, 187. Eu- 
logies on. ///., 13S. As an Organi- 
zer, ib., 

Brooks. Mr., of Ala 

Brongh, Governor, of Ohio 

.mi. Li rd, on Feudalism, 96. 
On Self-Government 

Browbeating Southerners into Treason 



• 



P9 

222 
328 

315 
263 

21 4 
311 

350 

340 



2S0 
S31 



212 



247 

1G6 



150 
392 

882 
21i 



IFBEX. 



Page 
Brown. Hon. A. G., of Miss., Senator. 
Supports Homestead Bill, 51. Tribute 
to Johnson by, 55 Davis' Jealousy 

of 90. 150,160.175,176,206, 22^ 

"Brown Bear." A London Club 20 

Brown, Ex-Lieut-Governor 340 

Brown, John, Invasion of Virginia 188 

Brown. Neil S 206 

Browning, Private Secretary toGover- 

nor Johnson 2o0, lib 

Browsing, Fort 277 

Browning, O. II., ex-Senator 837 

Brownlow, Parson • • • 71 

Bruce. Sir F., British Ambassador, 394. 
Address to the President. 342. Re- 
ply to, 843. Informal Conversation 

with the President. 844 

Buchanan, James, Secretary of State, 
83. President, Vetoes the Home- 
stead Bill, 8T, Favored it in his 
Inaugural, 68. Extract from, ib. 
Controlled by Southern Conspira- 
tors, 87-89. His Treasonable Sur- 
roundings, 90. Invites Scrutiny 
into Department Expenses, 119. 
Supposed not to favor Pacific Rail- 
road, bnt Writes a Letter to Cali- 
fornia for Election Purposes Favor- 
ing it. 129. Bioderick's Defiance 
of, 187. Elected on Non-interven- 
tion Principles of Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill. 157. Attempts to Over-ride 
it, ib. Protest of Douglas, 153. 
Hatred of Douglas, ib.. 161. Under 
Southern Pressure Advocates Le- 
compton. 1S4. War on Douglas, ib. 
A Leading Cause of Secession, ib. 
185. Communicates Kansas Policy 
to Douglas and Walker, ib.. 194. 
Frightened by Southern Conven- 
tions and Abandons it, 195. Venge- 
ful Intolerance of, 196. Eager to 
have his Course Endorsed by the 
Party, 197. Secession Message in 
Congress, 80S. (lives general Dis- 
satisfaction, 206. His Cabinet 
Breaking Up. 207. Receives De- 
mands from South Carolina Com- 
missioners, 221. Declines another 
Communication, ib. Throws the 
Responsibility on Congress, ib. 

Pledged to Secession 193 

Buckingham. W. A. Brest's Letter to 332 
Bue.ll, General, Evacuates Northern 
Alabama and Southern Tennessee, 
272. Armies in Nashville, ib. De- 
sires its Evacuation— Opposed by 

Johnson 292 

Bnena Vista, Rattle at. Jeff. Davis at.. 169 

*• Bulletin," the Memphis 243 

Bull Run. Johnson's Speech after 241 

Burch, Mr •• 137 

Burke 22, 101 

Burlinghame, A. . . '. '°' 

Burnside, General, 280. AtKnoxville. 231 
Butler, General B. F I* 6 



c. 

Cabinet Changes under Buchanan.. 



222 



Pago 
Calhoun. J. C, Theory of Expanding 
the Army, 99. Johnson on. 147. A 

Logician and a Sectarian, ib 175 

California no Mendicant, 182. If she 
Withheld her money would the 
Manufacturing Interests of the 
States be Paralyzed? 133 John- 
son's Replv to. il). Where did its 
Gold go? 184 Bond with other 
States, 134. Broderick's Connec- 
tion with ^37 

Cameron, S., Secretary of War, 150, 
at Union Convention of 1S64..291, 341 

Camp Dick Robinson 249 

Campbell, Mr, Defeats Johnson for the 

Legislature 28 

Campbell, Colonel L. D 257, 270 

Campbell, Tennessean Soldier alluded 

to bv Johnson 112 

Campbell, Sir Colin, at Inkermann, 
Compared to Jeff. Davis at Buena 

Vista 270 

Campbell, W. B., ex-Governor of Ten- 
nessee, 257. Presides at Union 

Mass Convention 259, 260, 815 

Canadian Rebellion. 1S37 166 

Canby. General. Captures Mobile, 350. 
Dispatch from Announcing Bur- 
render of Kirby Smith 369 

Canning. Effect of Speech in Aid of 
South American Republics, 232. 
Johnson's Great Efforts Compared 

with 233 

Carpenter. F. B., Artist, Relates Presi- 
dent Lincoln's Anecdote of John- 
son and the Fighting Parson at 

Prayer 273 

Carroll, Tennessean Soldier, alluded to 

by Johnson H2 

Carter, J. T. P 315 

Cass, Lewis, Secretary of State, 167. 
Reason for Leaving Buchanan's 
Cabinet, 207. Breaks his Sword 

Twice 207 

Casselly, Colonel, 69th Ohio 277 

Catholic Vote 33 

Catholics, Johnson's Defence of, 34. 
Not Hostile to Liberty. 35. In the 
Revolution — Washington's Testi- 
mony 36. Know-Nothiug Argu- 
ments Against Rebutted by John- 
son 4 5 

Cedar Creek S06 

Chambersburg, Pa., Burned 306 

Chandler, Hon. J. R.. of Pennsylvania, 

Tribute to Johnson 55 

Chase, Salmon P., Secretary of Treas- 
ury 123 

On the War <>05 

Chase. Chief Justice, Administers the 

Oath of Office to Johnson 823 

Chatham ...21, 238 

Chattanooga, Rebel Army Forced to... 2(9 

Movements for Possession of 280, 281 

Amount of Losses at 2S1 

Chicago Platform Declares the War a 
Failure, 305. Secretary Chase's 

Reply to 305 

Chickamauga, Rebels Forced from into 
Georgia 279 



INDEX. 



Page 
Children, Five Thousand, Salute the 
President, 37o. His Address to... 376 

" Christ First, our Country Next " 247 

Christian Commission, Delegation of, 

Address the President 340 

Churches, Influence of 809 

Cincinnati. .Johnson's Speech at 2 : '7 

Citiz'-ns' Committee of New York, 

Wait on President 341 

Civil ami Religious Liberty, Johnson's 

Speech on 84 

Clay. Hon C. C, Senator. 67, 63. John- 
son's Reply to 67, 150, 176. Re- 
ward for 355 

Cleary W. C, Reward for 8o5 

Clifford, ex-Governor 840 

Clingman, T. L.. Senator, Allusion to 
Foreign Catholic Vote. 88. 150. 
On Buchanan's Secession Message, 
205. Disunion Views, 204. 1 1 is 
Recognition of Johnson's Ability. . 247 
Cobb, Howell, Secretary of Treasury, 

Resigns 207 

Cochrane, C. B., at Union Convention, 

1S64 2-9 

Cochrane John, Nominated for Vice- 
President. 301. "Withdraws 301 

Colfax. Schuyler 86 

Collamer, Senator 151 

Colored People, Johnson's Hope for. .. 364 
Colored Seamen Abduct Slaves, 165. 
The Former Demanded by Gover- 
nors of Virginia anil Georgia, ib. 

Refused by Governor Seward 160 

See Seward. 
Columbia, Tenn., Union Meeting at... 266 
Compromise. Measures of 1850. John- 
son's Speech 142 

Of 1 850, Seward Agaiust 1 07 

The Evils of 143, 144 

With Armed Rebels 242 

Concubinage in the South 804 

Confederacy, the, "Died of a V" 169 

"Confederate States." Provisional Con- 
stitution Adopted 222 

Signs of Failure in 308 

Wails from 308 

Conference, Committee of, on Home- 
stead Bill 86 

Congress, the XXIXth 37 

The XXXth 42 

The XXXVth 61, 150 

The XXXVIth 72, 150 

Second Session, Opening of Des- 
cribed 120 

Reception of President's Message, 
203. Effect on the Southern Rep- 
resentatives, 203, 204. Effect on 

Republicans 204 

Should it Reflect Public (([union?... 71 
" Congressional Globe," References to — 

passim 

Conspirators Meet in Washington 221 

" Conservatism" 144 

Conspiracy to Assassinate the Principal 

Members of the Government 325 

Conspirators. Reward Offered for 355 

Constituencies, Duties of 44 

Constitutional Monarchy Mooted in the 
South 242 



Page 
Constitutional Union Party, 156. Plat- 
form of. 178 

Convention. Constitutional, 17^7, Plans 

Presented to 330 

National Democratic of I860. 147. 
Johnson's Name Proposed, ib. 
Contention in, ib. Withdrawal of 
Delegates from. if/.. 14-. Sits for 
Ten Days. Adjourns to Baltimore 143 

Baltimore* 1S60 178 

Chicago " 178 

Baltimore Democratic 179 

Seceders, at Charleston. 180. Ad- 
journ to Richmond, 181. Nomi- 
nate Breckinridge 181 

Charleston and Baltimore, Causes of 

Secession at 1S3 

Democratic Baltimore, Inconsistency 

of Seceding Delegates at 197 

National Union, Baltimore. 1804 284, 286 
Desire of Dickinson's Friends to Ex- 
clude Border States from 290 

Cleveland, Ohio, 1S64 301 

Chicago Democratic, 1S64 301 

Conventions. Johnson Denies their 
Right to Dictate, 130. Should not 

make Precedents 131 

Cooper H 315 

Cooper, Ed., Address Union Demon- 
stration at Murfreesboro' 263, 264 

Corwin T 20S 

Cotton 32 

Cotton i». Gold 183 

Cotton Burning in Arkansas 257 

Cox. Rev. 8. II 309 

Credentials, Johnson Presents his in 

the United States Senate 51 

Crittenden, 150. As Leader, 151. His 
Appearance in the Senate, ib. His 
Eloquence, 152. Replies to Green 
of Missouri, ib. On Kansas Ques- 
tion, 153. A Southern Man, ib. 
Allegiance not to a Section, 154. 
Opposes Cuban Bill. ib. Farewell 
to Old Senate Chamber, 154. The 
" Crittenden -Montgomery " Bill, 
Account of. ib. Union Speech at 
Chicago, 155. His Politics, 156. 

175... 204 

Cruisers. Rebel. Order Relative to For- 
eign Hospitality to 362 

Cuba, Thirty-Million Bill for Acquisi- 
tion of 154 

Curtis, G. W-, at Union Convention.. 289 

Curtis, S. R 208 

Cashing, C. on Jeff. Davis' Military Tal- 
ents 169, 170 

Secedes from Democratic Conven- 
tion, 179 Presides at Seceders 1 

Convention . . ISO 

"Curran, Stuttering Jack," Early Ef- 
forts in Debate". "..... 20 

Curtin, Governor, of Pennsylvania 341 

D. 

'• Damn the Presidency " 131 

Davis', Jeff., Senator, Rill to Increase 
the Standing Army, 99. On "Cheap 
Material" for the Army, 105. En- 



INDEX. 



Page 
rnity to General Scott, 103. Discns- 
tli Johnson on Presidential 
Aspirations, 131. Sketch of as a 
Leader. 151. First Appearance in 
Congress, 169. J. Q. Adams, Pre- 
diction, ib. His Great Talents, ib. 
eh of— Greatly Distinguished 
in Mexican War." Hi. His V at 
Buena Vista, ib. Richmond "Ex- 
. ," :. ad C. Cushingon, ib, 170. 
Refuses Commission of Brigadier 
i al. 170. In the United States 
Senate. 171. Chief of Slave-rights 
Democrats, ib. Advocates Repu- 
:' Union Bank Bonds, ib. 
Resig Seat in the Senate to 
Run for Governor, and is Defeated, 
Supports Pierce and goes into 
the Cabinet, ib. In the War De- 
partment. ib. The Arguments 
Used to Place him in the Cabinet, 
172. He-elected to the Senate, ib. 
Speech at Pass Christian— Touch- 
ing Sentiments of Love for the Old 
Flag, ib. On Dissolution and Sub- 
mission, ib. Appearance to Vote 
against Douglas. 173. Visits the. 
North, ib. His Reception, ib. 
Speeches at this Period, ib. Dif- 
ferent Views North and South, ib., 
174. Union Letter to Webster 
Fi .rival, ib. On the Irrepressible 
Conflict, 175. Declares for Disun- 
ion, ib. The Acknowledged Leader 
of the South, ib. Qualifications 
Compared with Southern Leaders, 
170. Character, ib. Manner, 177. 
Speech at Memphis, ISdO, 198. 
Speech at Vicksburg, 200. Will 
Welcome the Invader. 201. In a 
High Tone of Courtesy, '200. Elected 
" President of the Confederate 
States,'' 222. Johnson on, 227, 
Voted against Slavery Protection 
in Territories, 228. Johnson's 
Sketch of him. 230, Nurtured by 
the U. S. Government, ib. What 
Confidence should Tennesseans 
have in him, 260. Woful Speeches 
at Atlanta. Macon. Montgomery, 
3n8. Vainglorious Declaration of 
319. Comment on, ib. Reward 
for, 355. Captured, 366. Other 
References to 150, 183, 1-6. 201, 304 

Davis", Mrs.. Remarks to the Captors of 
her Husband 366 

Dawson, Hon J. L., of Pa., Tribute to 
Johnson 55, 56 

Debating Society of Greenville Col- 
lege ' 19 

Debating Soc eties of London, Curran 
in 20 

Delaware First to Sign the Constitu- 
tion 206 

DelfoSSe, M. Maurice, Belgian .Min- 
ister. Presents Credentials 399 

Demagogues. 105 

" Demagogism " 53 

Democratic Tarty, Sentiment of, 

■ ad 37 



Page 
Democratic Party Warned by Johnson 108 

Departing from the Constitution 130 

Convention, IsOO, Withdrawal of 

Stat es from 1 70 

Platform 

1 Democratic Review" 43 

Democrats. Leading Northern. Devoted 
to Southern Inter* sts 146 

Dennison, William, Post Master Gene- 
ral o27 

Deputations Waiting on President 
Johnson, 887, 340, 341, 352. 381. 
From South Carolina, 884. Names 
of, ib. From Virginia Merc! 
SOU. From South Carolina, Gover- 
nor Perry's Account of Reception 
bv the President, 392. See also Ap- 
pendix. From Florida 302 

Diekinson, Daniel S 146 

His Name Before the Union Conven- 

of 1864 for Vice-President 

"An Instrument to Degrade Seward 
Raymond's Reply to this Idea 

Diplomatic Tables Turned 39 

Diplomatic Corps, Address to President 

Johnson 

Reply to 345 

Dissolution vs. Submission — ■. 178 

Dissolution, Attempt at. after John 
Brown Raid 183 

Disunionists, Underrated. Is7. Un- 
grftteful Fanatics, ib. Persist- 
ency of. ib. Views by Son 
Press, 191. Rhett, 191. Judge 
Benning, 192. Governor Potter, of 
Mississippi.;' 7 '. Governor Gil 
South Carolina, ib. Sec 
Davis, Rhett, etc Spratt, 
Keitt,«&. Miles, 194. J. L. Pugh, 
ib. Governor Perry, of Florida, ib. 
Bonham, ib. Desire to keep the 
South out of Presidential Contest. 
19S. Their Activity and Esprit, 
200. Send Agents North to Pur- 
chase Arms, ib. Make Treason At- 
tractive, ib. Address of 9i nators 
and Representatives to the Si 
200. Johnson not in their Confi- 
dence, 212. Secret Meeting of, in 
Washington, 221. Commit! 
ib. Violence in the United States 
Senate 228 

Dix. J. A., Secretary of Treasury 222 

Doolittle, J. P.. Senator, Sheds Light 
on Mason, of Virginia T3, 150 

Doubtful Power, Congress should. De- 
sist from 126 

Douglas, Stephen A., Senator, 
Compliments Johnson. S3. 
Leader, 151. Anxiety to Hear his 
Opinions, 156. His Life an Exam- 
ple for Youths, ib. sketch of. 157. 
As Chairman of Committees on 
Territories in Congress, ib. Early 
Ground of Non-intervention on 
Slavery Question, ib. \ I 
Popular Rights, 15S. Persecnt id 
by Buchanan and the South, ib. 
(treat Lecom ton Debate in the 
Senate, ib. Galleries and Lobbies 



INDEX. 



Page 
Thn ngc Hi Jpei eh, 159. 

haracter. 100. On P 

Differ, £&., 

161. a for the 

[llinoi ip, ib. Noini- 

ilie Presidency, 17'.'. 

Pursued b; tan, 184. Would 

to Re tore Harmony, 

185. Tlie Vigor of his Southern 

Tour, 1S6. Position in Canvass of 

I ISO. Hopes to i.vert War, 

ins on the Wat 

.. ib. No J 

. >'). Visit nnd Advice to 

: lent Lincoln. 168. In Favor 

of Calling out 200,000men, ib., 194, 

ccution of. by Buchanan, 196. 

Appearance in the Senate, 202. 

Lasl Nobli mts, 164. 

!. ib. Other References 

to 96, 124, 187, 150, 175, 204 

is, Mrs 159 

Dumont, General 258 

Dunn, of Indiana 20S, 222 



E. 



Early. Jnbal A.. Invades Maryland . . . 306 
East, !'.. II.. Secretary of State of Ten- 
see 256 

Eckert, T. J.. Assistant Secretary of 

War 402 

Editors, Union, Muzzled in Tenm ee. 285 

Egcria, Johnson's '. 16 

Elect - i ■ Prescribe h< Qualifi- 

ir own Borders. 374 
ion Proclamation, Johnson 

on.! 282 

Emmet, Quoted by Johnson '-'IS 

England, Culmination of her Humilia- 

12 33 

English, W. II .... '. 155 

Erskine 21 

Erwin, J., Presid atSeced s'Conven- 

i 181 

Etheridge, E 

Everett, Edward, Nominated for Vice- 
Presidency 173 

Ewing, Mr.. Delegate from Tennessee I > 

Presidential Convention, I860 147 

" Examiner," The Richmond 248 

Expenditure m Appropriation.. 181 

Aggregate of Government, since 

Adoption of the Constitution 102 

Keeps P 123 

In the Ratio of Increase of Popula- 
tion 128 



F. 

Faith, Johnson's 243 

- of ls64 

Farnsworth, General 

A ' ■ 

fit in Mobile Bay 806 

Y:\vw of Wiscoi 

hnsoi 
the Nighl of • - 



■ ssination, 8 ny to 

John 

of Greal Men 'J I 

\ olumc of i 14 

. | ition,John st 4<) 

nden, \V. P., Senator, 122. Ex- 

tary of the Treasury 

lal Aristocracy, 95. Lord Brough- 
am on, 9(i. " Bacon's Rem 

95 

Ffraser, J. (de Jean), an Irish Poet 

lianie, Lines on the Working 

"54° 40', or Fight" 

First Practical Step to Disunion 

Fisher's Hill 

Pishing Bounty Bill 58 

Fitch, G. N., Senator 140 

Fitzpatrick, B< nator, - I, 122, 170. De- 
clines Nomination to Vice-Presi- 
dency 179 

Flag, The 

Florid:'., 216. Secedes, 222. I spi di- 

tion to, 800. Reconstruction in... 
Floyd, J.B., - :ns 221 

Foote, H. S., Defeats Jeff. Davis for 

Governor 

Foot, S., Senator 187, 151, 

Forney, J. W 44,203 .".-'-. 

Forest, General. 255. Captures Mur- 
frei shoro', 270. Advances to An- 
tioch, 271. In Front of Nashville, 
ib. Falls Back to ('artha.src 
275. Attacks Nashville. 277. 

feated, ib. Kentucky Raid 

Fort Andrew Johnson, the Capitol of 

Nashville 

De Eussey Captured •■ 806 

Gaines Captured 

' McAllister Assaulted 

Morgan Captured 806 

Negley 

Phillip and Jackson 

Pillow, Massacre at 306 

Forls at Nashville. Named after Gov- 
ernor Jol d on 1 - Staff 

E. II 

Foster, Lafayette, President of the U. 

nate 187, 

Fox 21, 

France, Relations with 

Franklin. Tattle of. 307 

Fraud of Internal Improi 

Tennessee 27, 28 

Freedom to All 

Freeman Case, Seward in I 1 ** 

Fremont, J. C, Nominated for Pri 
it, 301. Withdraws 

Frost, Judge, 384. On the Position of 
South Carolina, 386. Admits the 
Defeat of the South 3*7 



G. 



Editor of Raleigh " Regist >r," 

IS 

Gentry, Meredith P., D yjohn- 

i rovcrnor 47 



171 
155 

218 



806 

277 



29 

150 

5 



IXDEX. 



Page 

Georgia Convention Condemns Gover- 
nor Walker's Kansas Inaugural 195 

Georgia, Rebels forced into, after Rattles 
of < 'hickamauga and Mission Ridge, 
279. Sherman's Campaign through, 

807. Reconstruction of. 332 

Gerolt, Baron von, Prussian Minister, 
Addresses the President, 315. Re- 
ply to 345 

Gerry Eldridge, Opposition to the Office 

of Vice-President 

Gettvsburg Monument 389 

Gill.'R. II 384 

Gillem, Colonel, Provost Marshal of 

Nashville 275, 277 

Gillet. W, II 3S4 

Gist, Governor of South Carolina 192 

Glenn. S. It., Herald Correspondent in 
Tennessee. His Diary of the De- 
fence of Nashville, 255, ct seq. 
Arrives in Nashville, and Waits on 
Governor Johnson, 256. Enjoys a 
Ni.u'lit of Suspense, 264 On an Ex- 
citing Ride with Governor Johnson, 
268. On Duty with the. Governor, 
2"o. On Johnson's Self-control and 

Temperate Habits 27s 

Gold, Where it Went to 183 

Good Star, Johnson's 16 

Government to Reflect the Economy of 

the Masses : . 99 

Granger. General, Checks Longstreet's 
Advance at Chattanooga, 281. Re- 
lieves Burnside at Knoxville 281 

Grant, General, Besieging Vicksburg, 
2S0. Appointed to the Chief Com- 
mand in the Southwest, 231. Con- 
fidence in, 307. Around Richmond 
and Petersburg, ib. Compels Lee 
to Surrender, 323. Terms and Ac- 
ceptance, 324. Thanks to, ib. Dis- 
patches News of Joe Johnson's 
Surrender, 351. Reduction of Mili- 
tary Expenses 851, 363 

"Great Southern Party," 190. Pro- 
gramme of ib., 191 

Green. J. A. Senator, 75, 78, 150. Al- 
lusion to Crittenden.. 151, 154, 155, 203 

Greene, General Nat 96 

Greenville, Tenn., Johnson takes up his 
Residence in, 16. His Reforms in, 

85. College IS 

Griunell, Moses H 841 

Gubernatorial Contest of 1855 in Ten- 
nessee 47 

Guerrilla Outrages in Tennessee, 207. 

Johnson's Narrow Escape from 26S 

Guns, Rebel Loss of. 308 

Guthrie, James 57 

GwiD, W. M., Senator, Attempts to Re- 
commend the Pacific Railroad as a 
l'art of the Democratic Platform, 
129. Johnson Exposes it.. .»'£>, 1ST, 150 

H. 

Hale, J. P. Senator, on Expenditure, 100, 
106, 150. 208, 205. On Buchanan's 
'■ Secession " Message 305, 328 

Halleck, Gejaeral 3S2 



Page 

" Hallelujah," Sung by Soldiers 206 

llallet, B. F., at Cincinnati National 

Democratic Convention 129, 146 

Hamilton A 330 

Hamilton, A. J., 209. Appointed Pro- 
visional Governor of Texas 833 

Hamlin, Hannibal, Benator, 5;'. 150. 
Nominated for Vice-Presidency, 
178. Appearance in the Senate 
ter Election to, 202. References 

to 2S5, 286, 340 

Hammond. J. H.. Senator. His Feudal 
Doctrines, 07, 6^, 70. Johnson Re- 
plies to his "Mudsill" Speech, 68. 

References to 1 50, 1 75 

Harden, Colonel 306 

Harlan, J. A., Senator, 90, 150. Suc- 
ceeds Mr. Usher as Secretary of In- 
terior, 367. Important Decision of 

Referring to Homestead Law 396 

Harper's Ferry Invasion. 1 S3. Not sym- 
pathized in by the North 1S3 

Harrold, Assassination Conspirator, 

Caught, 350. Hanged 390 

Harris, Isham G., Governor of Tennes- 
see. 45. 234. Convenes St;it.- Leg- 
islature, ib., 230. For " King " 243 

Harris, J. A., Senator 341 

Haskin.J.B 137 

Hare, Senator 137 

Haxall. Wm. II 390 

Haynie, General J. N 837 

Henderson, Colonel Thomas, Saved by 

Johnson's Father 13 

Henry, G. A., Defeated by Johnson fur 

Governor of Tenn essee 45 

Henry. Patrick 96 

- Herald," New York 203, 255 

Hewitt's 1st Kentucky Battery 270 

Hickman, J 137 

Hickox. V., Letter of Douglas to 164 

"Higher Law" 107 

Hitz, Mr., Swiss Consul General, Ad- 
dress to the President, 3" 8. 

Reply 354 

Homestead Bill, the 43, 51. Constitu- 
tional Objections to, Answered by 
Johnson, 62. Inculcates Grand 
Principles of Religion, 53. It 
would Increase the Revenue, 68. 
Its Popularity, 57. Opposed by 
Leading Southerners, 57, GO, 71. 
Johnson's Great Speech for, 60. 
The Southern Charge of "Aboli- 
tionism," 60. Johnson's Reply to, 
ib. Vattel on, 61. Jackson on, ib. 
First Introduced into Congress, 62. 
Not Demagogical, ib. Policy Com- 
menced under Washington, 63, 81, 
Financial. Social and Moral Re- 
sults of 63, 64. Would it Depopu- 
late the South, 66. Precedents for, 
74. A Democratic Measure, 82. 
Vote on it in Senate, 88. In 
House, S4. Committees of Confer- 
ence on, S6. Report Concurred in. 
87. Vetoed by President Buchanan, 
ib. Sustained b} r Seward, 1C8. La- 
test Decision of Secretary of In- 
terior 396 



TXDEX. 



Pasre 

Holmes, I. E 3S4, :;-G 

Holt, Joseph, Secretary of War 222 

Hooker, General, Pushes the Rebels 

into Georgia 2*1 

Hopkins, Mr., of Florida 392 

House Committee of Thirty-Three, 

Elements of 20S 

Houston. 8., Senator, 100. Replies to 

Davis 108, 112, 150, 175, 200 

Howard, General 882 

Howard. W. A 155 

Hnntcr, General T> 306 

Hunter, R. M. T.. Senator, 57. 58, GO. A / 
Satirical Compliment to, 60. Am- 
i ndment to Homestead Bill in 
1864, T9. On Economical Views 
of Johnson, 109. References, 150, 

155,176 203 

Hunter, William, Acting Secretary of 

State 345 

Husbandmen vs. Lazy Citizens 61 

I. 

Illinois Delegation, President John- 
son's Reply to 337 

Illinois Senatorial Campaign 181 

Inauguration of Andrew Johnson as 
President. Persons present, 328. 

Solemnity of the Occasion 329 

"Internal Improvement" Scheme in 
Tennessee, 26. Of Local Nature 
Break Down the Rights of the 

States , 39, 125 

Ireland, Spirit of Freedom in 35 

Irrepressible Conflict, 167. Davison.. 175 
Iverson, A., Senator, 57, 60, Makes a 
Speech without a Subject, 110. 
Disclaims any Imputation on Ten- 
nessee. 113. Compliments John- 
son's Probity, 123. Attacks North- 
ern Democrats, 1S7. Denounces 
llnii^ton, 206. References, 106, 150, 
176,223, 261 

J. 

Jackson, Andrew. Read the ''Vicar of 
Wakefield," 21. His Famous Union 
Toast, when Fir^t Given, 23. His 
Friendly Message to South Caroli- 
na, ib. Parton's Life of, ib. De- 
fended by Andrew Johnson, 30, 36. 
Advocates a Homestead Law. 61, 
81. Bancroft's Lecture on, 91. En- 
forced the Law in 1832. 215. Ref- 
erences to 88, lo7, 108, 110 

Jefferson. 28, 23. On Large Cities. 6K 
Reccommends the Homestead, 74. 
Supports Homestead, 81, 96 

Johnson, Andrew, his Birth, 13. Par- 
entage, ib. An Apprentice, ib. 
Gradual Development of, 14. His 
First Ambition. 15. Learns the 
Alphabet, ib. Receives a (lift of 
Book of Speeches, ib. Learns to 
Read, lb. Passion for Knowledge 
and Labor to Achieve it. ib. Ucmi- 
niscenes, ib. A Journeyman, ib. 
Goes to Laurens 1 Court House, S. 



Page 
C— a Love Storv. 16. Returns to 
Raleigh, N. C. ib. Turns West- 
ward, and stops at Grei nville, 
Tenn.. 17. Marries, ib. His Wife, 
ih. Teaches him Writing and 
Arithmetic ib. Energy of charac- 
ter, IS. Becomes the voice of the 
Workingmen, 19. Elected Alder- 
man, ib. In the Debating Society, 
20. Popularity among the Colle- 
gians, io. Progress in Knowledge, 
20. Re-elected Alderman and 
Mayor for Three Terms , 28. Views 
on Nullification in 1832, 24. Trus- 
tee of Rhea Academy, 26. Sup- 
ports the New Constitution, '.'7. 
Elected to the Legislature, ib. Op- 
poses the "Internal Improvement" 
Scheme, ib. Defeated, 2*. Re-elec- 
ted, 29. Presidential Elector, ib. 
Elected to the State Seriate, ib. To 
Congress.//'. On Tariff. R0. Sup- 
ports Annexation of Texas, 31. 
Defends the Catholics, 34. Re-elec- 
ted to Congress, 37. On the Oregon 
Boundary Difficulty, 3s. Against 
Tea and Coffee Tax, and Local In- 
ternal Improvements. S9. Against 
Centralization. 40. Sustains the 
War with Mexico, ib. Replies to 
the Charge of its being " Unholy," 
41. Retrenchment, ib. Re-elec- 
ted to Congress. 42. The Veto 
Power, ib. His Congressional Ca- 
reer. 43. Politicians Conspire to 
Shelve him — the People Elect him 
Governor, 45. His Inaugural 
Reviewed Abroad, 46. Against 
"Know-Nothingism," ib. Re-elect- 
ed Governor, 47. The Contest, ib. 
Anecdotes of Personal Courage. 4S. 
Elected to the United States Sen- 
ate, 50. History of the Homestead 
Act. 51. His Continuous Advocacy 
of the Measure, 52. Its Acknow- 
ledged Leader. 54. Petitions Pre- 
sented through him, 57. Southern 
Opposition, ib. On Appropriation 
Bills. 58. Ci eat Speech of Mac, 
1S58, in Favor of the Homestead, 
60. Alludes to his Emigration from 
North Carolina. 66. Replies to C. 
C. Clay and Hammond — Were all 
Slaves who did not Own Slaves? 70. 
Thirty-sixth Congress — Speech of 
April", 1860. on the Homestead. 72. 
Severe Rebuke to Mason, <>f Vir- 
ginia, 78. Committees of Confer- 
ence, 86. Passage of the Bill by 
More than two-thirds 1 Vote, 87. 
Vetoed by President Buchanan, ih. 
General Review of the Land Ques- 
tion, 91-97. Opposes Jeff. Davis' 
Bill to Increase the Standing Army, 
99. Substitute for, 100. Spi ech 
on, Illustrated by Statistics. 101. 
Expenditure for At my and for Gov- 
ernment. lo2. Warns the Democ- 
racy against Extravagance, 103. 
Compares Washington's Idea of 



10 



IXDEX. 



Volunteer Forces with Davis', 104, 

1 05. Doe ■• i \rmy of 

Rabble in Americ i 106. On Davis' 
Slight to General t, 107. Ee- 

plii s to Hunter, lo9. Completely 

iomflts Iverson, 110. Defense 
of Tennessee, 111. The Tenne 
Resolutions, 113. Approves the In- 
struct! if Representatives by 

States, 11-". Senatorial Conflict 
with J. Bell. ib. Explanation, 11". 

. of Character, 1 18. B 
the ubject of Retrenchment fully 
up, 119. Desires to Test President 
Buchanan's Good Faith in Inviting 
Scrutiny, ib. A Select Committee 
with Johnson at its head Suggested, 
121. Testimony to his Fitness, 123. 
On increase of the Public Expense 
and Population, ib. Declines 
Chairmanship of rielect Committee, 
121. Desires to Confine the De- 
partment Expenses to $50,000,000 
Annually, 124. Differs with the 
Democratic Party on the Right to 
Build a Pacific Railroad, 125. Re- 
views the Arguments for and 
against the Project, 12T. Favors 
its Submission to a Popular Vote, 
128. A strict Construction Demo- 
crat, ib. Denies the Right of Presi- 
dential Conventions to Dictate 
what Constitutes a Democrat, Km. 
Passage with Davis Touching Presi- 
dential Aspirations, ib. '•Damn 
the Presidency." 131. Wonldrather 
be m Honest Man, ib. Discussion 
with Broderick, 1355. Gold va. Cot- 
ton, 133. Position on the Slavery 
Question, 1311. t Ace pi id as it 
B 10 i, 140. Sp.-eelies on, 111. 142. 
Appeal to Reflecting men of all 
Parties, ib. Not a Compromise 
Man, 148. Votes for the Individual 

lures of 1S50, 144. Ou Union 
Savers. 145. Faith in the Union, 
ib. Contrasted with Northern 
Democrats having Southern Views, 
146. Opinion of Calhoun. 14T. Put 
in Nomination by Tennessee Dem- 
ocracy at Charleston Convention, 
1850, ib. Letter to General S. Mil- 
ligan Withdrawing iris Name, 14s. 
liis Compeers in the Senate. 140. 
His Independence, 1T5. Could not 
Conceive Disunion. 1S7. Faith in 
the Union. 211. Realizes the Piaiis 
of Disunionists, ib. Takes Grovtnd 
against them. 212. Senate Speech 
ol LSth and 19th December, I860 — 

nits . Constitutional Amend- 
ments, 213. Speech Reviewed, 214. 
Line of Argument show< d that 
Southern Journals Favored a Mon- 
archy, '.:i7. His Claims to be heard 
by Various Parlies, 218. Gl 

ch of February. 1 361, on 
of the Un that 

he Struck Treason a Blow, 2:4. On 
Benjamin's Exit, 225. On Joe 



Page 



Page 
Lane, 226 Has Lived Down some- 
Men. 2.7. On Davis' Inuendoes, ib. 
The All.- of all Union Men, ib. Ex- 
on sia\ e Protection, 
228. His Position with Regard to 
Tennessee, 229. Sketch of Davis, 
230. Closing Scenes of Secession 
Debate, ib. Reply to Lane. ib. On 
Traitors, 281. Great Cheering in 
the Galleries, 232. Creates an Era 
in the Senate, ih. Compared with 
Canning, '233. Affairs in Ten 
see, 234. Attacked in Railway Cars 
cessionists. 286. Persecution in 
Tenn., ib. At Union Meetings, ib. 
Reception and Speech at Cincinnati 

237, On the Heresy of Secession, 4b. 
Stands by the Rights of the I ates, 

238. On Tennessee Affairs, 289. 
Reward Ottered for by Rebels, 241. 
On the Monarchial Leanings of the 
South, 242. "Let Harris be King 
and Baugh a Despot," 248. Claims 
Government Protei East 
Tennessee, i?/. Predicts an Upris- 
ing in the North, 244. The War 
not ou Southern Institutions, ib. 
It Must be Maintained, 245. speech 
on the Expulsion of Jesse D. 
Bright, 245. '247. Alleviates the 
Wants of Union Refugees, 249. 
Appointed Military Governor of 
Tennessee, ib. Assumes the Du- 
ties of Office, ib. Treatment of 
by Rebel Population, ib. Appeal 
to Tennessee, 250. Requires the 
Municipal Officials to take the Oath 
of Allegiance, 253. Declares the 
Offices Vacant, and Appoints New 

re, ib. Dialogue with Rebel 
Ladies. 254. Determines to Defend 
Nashville to the Last Extremity, 
255. Mr. Glenn's Diary of Gover- 
nor Johnson's Labors, from April 
to November, 16G.', 256, it seq. 
Addresses the 69th Ohio Regiment, 
257. Consultations lor the Resto- 
ration of Tennessee, ib. Orders 
the Arrest of Five Rebels for 
every One Union Man Plundered, 
'259. Enthusiastic Reception at the 
Union Convention, 259. South 
Carolinaand Southern Rights, 261. 
Relates some Sufferings of his Fam- 
ily — his Sick wile and Child Turn- 
ed into the Streets, 262. At Mur- 
freesboro' — Effect on the Butter- 
nuts, 263. An Alarm from Mi rgan's 
Men, 264. Address to Soldiers, 265. 
At Columbus, 266. At Shelby- 
vile-, ib. Guerrillas Threaten to 
Capture him, 267. Urgi d to Re- 
main under Guard at Murfreesboro', 
ib. Determines to go to Nashville, 
lb. Anxiety and Excitement — 
Narrow Escape from the Guerrilla 
Plots, 263. Rebel 
sulfations, ib. Un Duty in the 

ol, 271. Arrival of Ge I 

Johnson Opposed to 



INDEX. 



11 






the Evacuation of Nashville, ib. 
At Prayer wit h Nash- 

fbr a Month. John- 
275. His Family \ - 1 

' organ 
and Forrest, 277. 1 heir Defeat, 
ashville Raised, i&. 
Johnson's Self-control and Habits 
During the Siege — Completes the 
Nortl 
Cointnunii ami the North 

279 RaisesTwenty Bve I 

inTi ib. Proclamation Or- 

sing Rich Rebels for Support of 
Widows of R bels — On Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation, '282. Labors of 
Office, 283. <>n!. rs Elections for Ju- 
i and County Officers. '_'^4. 
ory of his Nomination for Vice- 
Presid ol the Union Conven- 

tion. 286, i '■ < minated by 

H. J. Raymond, 28S. Rejoicing at 
Nashville at the Result, 291. 
:h, 29-'. Believes in Man's 
ity for Self-Government, 294. 
On Slavery Emancipation, 295.* Of- 
ficial Li-::, r of Ai '2'.»7. 
The Presidential Ticket, 303. In- 
dncemi nl to War Democrats to 
Vote Organizing 
Tenn IS. On Emancipated 
Labor, 311. On bis Early Days,i&. 
Regul I Test Oath for Vo- 
ters, 312. Protest Against it, 
President Lincoln's ' At 
Torchlight Procession 315. I 
ted \ : United 
States, 316. Inaugural Addxess, ib. 
Anii:'. 

Riclmi ss on the 

Evenl — A| luthcrn M: 

821, 322. \ isits Richmond, ib. Plot 

te him, 82; L 
Killed, ib. Exciti i n the 

Night of tion, 

Visits the Dying President, 

tion from the 

his 

Dealer's Pat Indict) 

to Illinois 
Delegation — R 

■ , ■ '■ '■ lion 

Refu 7 a Day of 

Mourning, 819. Arduous Lai 
851. rf Da rer, ib. To 

Swiss Residents, 354. Ordi re Mili- 
tary Commission to Try the- As- 
sassination C< ispirators, 854. 
Proclamation Offering Rewa 
855. ' . ulatioi 

i ib. 
Reprii I on 1 of 

■ us ( tnVri 

i Cruiser: . ition 

Relative to 

« ith 
French M 



Page 
.. rn Ports to Foreign I 
l». clities a Gift ol • 
m New A > 
' e Grand Annies of the 
, and Georgia 
81 8. Amnesty Pi i 870. 

. in North ( : i 
874 Five 'i housand Children Sai- 
nt'' him- ' 16. Furl 

-trillions, 880, 
Rights of Negroes, 882. Recon- 

- 
Al. ai ... 8S8. Rem '. es all Trade 
Ri -i . [nterview 

South Carolina Delegation, 
He will no n y Clique, 8 !5. 

ib. i."\ esthi 
of Southern People, 8S6. Over- 
work Reconstri i 
South Carolina, ib. Letter Excu- 
sing his Absence from Laying the 
Gettysburg Monument, ib. Ap- 
proves the Sentences on the Assas- 
sination Conspirators, 890. E 
Rebuke to Virginia Merchants, 391. 
Reconstruction of Florida. 
Interview with Another South Car- 
olina Di I Eft. Ill Hi 
394. Submits the Question of Mili- 
tary Tribunal to Attorney Gene- 
95. Seine with Pardon-Seck- 
i is. 897, To Mississipp 
struc vi ntiqn, 399. Re- 
ceivi ib. Free- 
dom of Trade. 4' 0. On Militarj ln- 
: . the Restoration of 
Mississippi, 401. Ad I lele- 

■ 
103. Popular I ini of 1 

Policy 408 

For Official Papers, Orders. Proc- 
lam 
John of the Fj i 

it, 18. Obituary Notice of 18 

Johnson. Mrs. _' ith her Child, 

Turned into streets by the 

Ri bels, 262. And ' 
to Jl 

tainei Rich- 
mond Orders I heir 
Free Passage, ib. Arrive at Nash- 
ville- — Reunion 275 

1 107 

in the {' . S. Sen- 

" 149 

Johnson. H. V.. Nominated for Vice- 
idency, 17'.'. Speech 
Show ing how Buchanan I 
Faith with his Party, with Doug- 

servienl to I 

On tl 

196. On ; i of the Si 

in the Ba '. 

John on, J inted Pr< 

Goveri >r ol Georgia 

■ ' irreuder of I 



r 324 



12 



IXDEX. 



K. 



Page 



Kansas Nebraska Bill in Tennessee, 47. 
Lecompton Constitution, Tennes- 
see Resolutions on, 114. DavisFa- 
vors, 173. II. A. Wise on, ib. To- 
peka Constitution — Lecompton 
Constitution Opposed by Critten- 
den, 15:4. Crittenden-Montgomery 
Bill, 154. Defeated in the Senate, 
ib. Passed in the House, ib. Votes 
on. ib. Committee of Conference, 
155. English Bill, ib. Seward's 

Definition of 1G8 

Keitt. L. M., on the "Accursed Union," 
193. Serenade Speech at Colum- 
bia, ib. Says Buchanan is Pledged 
to Secession, ib. Advises Total 

Ruin 198. "2(10, 201, 208 

Keitt, Mr., Seeks Pardon 898 

Kentucky Votes for Guthrie 197 

Key, F. S 201 

"Know-Nothingisin," Johnson's Speech 

against 46 

King, Horatio, Postmaster General 222 

King. John A., Chairman of New York 

Delegation at Union Convention... 289 
Kins, Preston, Senator, 150. On the 
Impolicy of Nominating a Vice- 
President from New York, 288. 

Makes Minority Report in Favor 

of Admitting Tennessee to Na- 
tional Union Convention, 290. Af- 
ter Great Confusion 1 ennessee Ad- 
mitted, ib. 841. Appointed Col- 
lector of New York 897 

Kirkwood House. Washington, D. C, 
Residence ol Johnson at. oi">. Re- 
ceives Cabinet in, 872. Inaugu- 
rated President of the United 
States in 32S 



L. 

Laborers not Slaves C8 

Lancaster, R. A 890 

Land Question. Lessons from, at Home 

ami Abroad. 92 

Lane, Joseph, Senator. 146. 150. Nomi- 
nated lor Vice-Presidency, ISO. 
Johnson on, 226. Vote on Slavery 
Protection, 229. Final Reply of 

Johnson to 280 

Large Cities. Jefferson on 65 

Lavergne, Surprise of the Rebels at.. . 274 
Laws. Johnson against the Accumula- 
tion of . 42 

League of United Southerners, 188. 

Spread of ib., 187 

Lecompton Constitution (Kansas). Sup- 
ported by Tennessee Legislature.. 114 
Seward Acts with Douglas against 16S 

Lecompte, Colonel of Swiss Army 352 

Lee, General R. E., Surrenders, with 
tin Army of Northern Virginia, to 

Lieut. -General Grant 823 

Legislature of New York Sustains Sew- 
ard, 106, Denounces Seward ICG 



Page 
Lellyet, J., Account of Interview with 

President Lincoln 313, 315 

Letcher, J 860 

Lewis. .Major, Secretary to General 
Jackson 23 

Line Between Party Faith and Party 

Suggestions 129 

Lindsley, M., an Aid of Governor John- 
son 296 

Lindslev, Fort 277 

Lister, Colonel, of 8d Minnesota. Uses 
Johnson as a Bait, 264, 2C5. Urges 
Governor Johnson to Remain Un- 
der Guard at Murfreesboro', 267, 
26S. At the First Rattle of Mur- 
freesboro 270 

Litcbford. Mr., Tailor of Raleigh, his 
Reminiscences of Johnson's Youth 15 

Little House on the Hill, Johnson's.. .. 19 

Lincoln. Abraham. 96. Contest for 
Senatorship with Douglas, 161. Its 
Result, ib. Reads Draft of First 
Proclamation to Douglas. 16:1. Nomi- 
nated for Presidency. 178. Elected, 
199. Benjamin on, 225. His Elec- 
tion as a Plea for Secession. John- 
son on, 217. His Anecdote of John- 
son and the Fighting Parson, 273 
Proclamation of Gratitude for Un- 
ion Successes in East Tennessee, 
2S2. Delegation Protesting against 
Johnson's Test Oath, 818. Letter 
in Reply to same, lb. The Head 
• of the Union Party, 304 Strength 
of Lincoln and Johnson Ticket, 
305. Visits Bichmond, 822. As- 
sassinated in the Theatre at Wash- 
ington. 325. Death, ib.. Tremen- 
dous Excitement at. 326. Universal 
Respect for, 826. Unfolding of his 
High Qualities, 327. His' Death 
Officially Communicated to Vice- 
President by the Cabinet, ib. John- 
son Orders u Day of Mourning for, 
849. References to. . .102, 169, 180, 181 

Lincoln, Thomas 1!., Introduced by 

Senator Bright to Jeff. Davis 245 

Longstreet, General, at Chattanooga, 
281. Goes against Burnside at 
Knoxville. 281. Fails in the Siege 
of Knoxville. and Retreats towards 
Virginia 2S1 

Louisiana, 216, Secedes, 222. Her 
Grievances 224, 826 

Love Storv, Johnson's Early 15 

"Louisville Journal" 235 

Lyons, Lord 2u8 

M. 

Mackenzie, Dr. R. S., Editor of Curran's 

Life 20 

Mackintosh, Sir James 44 

Madison on the Nullihcrs 23, 330 

MaelzeVs Chess-player 16S 

Magrath, Judge, of South Carolina, Re- 
signs on Lincoln's Election, 200. 
Presented with Service of Plate... 200 

Manning, Governor 388 

Marcy Defeated by Seward 165 



INDEX. 



13 



Page 
Marvin, Will., Appointed Provisional 

Governor of Florida 892 

Maryland, Toleration of 80 

Mason, J. M.. Senator, of Virginia, 70. 
Jolmson's Reply to, 72. John so 11 Re- 
views liis Votes, 75. Attempts 
to Explain, 76. Severely Reproved, 
78. References... .s2. 128. 150, 160, 176 
Mason & Dixon's Line — the First Man 

South of it against Secession 224 

Material of Volunteer and Standing 

Armies 104, 1 05 

Maury, Colonel H., Captured 275 

Maynard, EL at Union ('(invention.... 290 
Mayo, Mr., Mayor of Richmond, Dis- 

' mfssed Ss2 

McClahany, of South Carolina 888 

McClellan, Major-General George B., 
Nominated' for President. 801. 
Character and Position of, 802. 
Letter of Acceptance Favoring the 

War. 803 

McCulloch, Hugh, Secretary of the 
Treasury, 327, 828. Trade Regula- 
tions Issued by 856 

McFarland. Mr., Address to the Presi- 
dent. 402. Reply t 403 

McLeod Case 106 

Meade. Major General, his Army Re- 
viewed 368 

Memminger, Disunion Deputy to Vir- 
ginia ias 

"Mercury," Charleston, S. C, Proclaims 

Revolution Inevitable 191 

"Mercury," Mobile, Ala 191 

Mexico, War with, 40. A Doomed Na- 

ti "ii 41 

Mexican War. Opposition to as Unholy 40 
Middle Classes to be Built Up, 64. Self- 
Supporting 65 

Miles, W. P... 194.201, 203 

Militia, the Strong Arm of the Govern- 
ment 104 

Military Trihunal.Question Concerning, 
Submitted to Attorney General by 
President Johnson, 893. Reply 

to..... 394 

Miller, ColonelJ. F. 270 

Milligan. General S., Delegate from 
Tennessee to Presidential Conven- 
tion, 1860. Johnson's Letter to, 148. 
Secretary to Governor Johnson... 809 

Millson, J. 8., of Virginia 58, 209 

Missionary Ridge, Rebels Forced from 
into Georgia, 279. Desperate Fight 
and Rout of the Rebels by Grant. . 2&1 
Mississippi, Rifles in the Mexican 

War... 169, 170 

Union Bank Bonds Repudiated bv 

Jeff. Davis 171 

Gubernatorial Contest of 1850 171 

Davis Loves it more than Union 175 

Convention Condemns Governor 

Walker's Inaugural 195 

Jeff. Davis t 200 

Secedes -2] 

River Opened 805 

Reconstruction of 879 

Progress of Restoration in 899 

President's Dispatch on 899 



Page 

"Mississippian," Jackson, Miss 171 

Missouri Divides its Vote at the Union 

Convention of W4 2?5 

Mobile Bay, Battle in 806 

Mol ile C ptured 8£0 

Mobs in Tennessee 285 

Monarchy, Favored by Southern Jour- 
nals, 217. Mooted in tbeSouth, 2-12. 

The south Ready to Return to 2G1 

Monterey, Rattle of. Davis at 169 

Montgomery. 'William 154 

Montbolon, Marquis de, French And as- 
sador — Exchange of Courtesies 

with SGI 

Moody, Colonel, a Fighting Methodist 

Parson 273 

Mormon War 19 

Morgan, General, 255. Intention to 
Capture Johnson Frustrated, 264. 
The Terror of Tennessee. 271. Bent 
on Capturing Andy Join. son. ib. 
Attacks Nashville. '277. Defeated 277 

Morrill 203 

Morris, J. N 137 

Morris. Governeur 330 

Morton, Captain, Erects Fortifications. "74 
Morton. Governor O. P., of Maryland. 840 
Moses Originates theHomestead Bill.. 61 

Mudd. Dr.". Imprisoned for Life 390 

"Mudsills'' 64, V6 

Mulligan, Colonel. James A., Drives the 

Rebels from Moretield 300 

Municipal Council of Nashville — the 

Offices Declared Vacant 258 

Murfreesboro', Mass Meeting at, 203. 
Captured by Forrest, 270. Great 
Battle at, 279. Rebel Army De- 
feated at 279 



N. 

Nashville. Evacuated by Rebels, Feb. 
23, 1862, 249. Occupied by Union 
Troops ib. Municipal Council of. 
Refuse the Oath of Allegiance, 258. 
Johnson Declares the Offices Va- 
cant. Governor Johnson Determ- 
ines to Defend the City. 255. Has- 
tily Fortified, ib. State of, and 
Scenes in, 256. et s?q. Mass Meet- 
ing Held in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 259. Effect of Capture 
of Murfreesboro' in, 270. Cut off 
from the Outer World, 274. Sup- 
plies in. Becoming Exhausted, 275. 
Scenes in. 276. Rebel Coup <<« 
Main in Hear of, Defeated by Gen- 
eral Neglev. ib. Continued Prepa- 
rations for Defence, ib.' Two At- 
tacks on by Morgan and Forrest, 
ib. The Siege Raised, '277 Com- 



mnnicatinns « >pi n. 



North 



Western Railroad from, Completed 
by Johnson. 278 Meeting after 
Johnson's Nomination for Vice- 
President 291. Thomas' Victory 

at :• 307 

"National Intelligencer" 282, 376 



14 



INDEX. 



Page 
Nationality at Stake in the Presidential 

Elect:.'. us of 1864 304, 

Naval Heroes of 1812 37 

Navy Department. Redaction of Ex- 
penses 351 

Negley, < leneral James S., in Command 
at Nashville, 274. His Activity, '275. 
Thwarts a Rebel Couj) de Main on 
Nashville, 276. His Successful Ruse 
to Defeat Morgan and Forrest. 277. 
Congratulated by General liose- 

eratis 277 

y, Fort 277 

o in Polities 73 

Negro Suffrage, North Deceived as to 
its Uses, 385. States to be Deposi- 
tory of their own Political Power.. 886 

Nelson,' General William 249 

Nelson, T. A. It 315 

Neutral Ports. ( iourteSV of 802 

New York, State of Affairs in Hi,") 

In Union Convention — the Nomina- 
tion for Vice-President Conceded 

to 2s6 

Subject, Discussed by Delegates from 2>0 
Views of Lyman Trcmain.II. J. Ray- 
mond, Preston King, C. B. Coch- 
rane, G. W. Curtis. 2s7. Ma- 
jority for Andrew Johnson 289 

Nicholson, A. Ci. P.. Senator 80 

Non-intervention, Douglas 1 Doctrine 
the Basis of Democratic Platforms. 180 

No Prop, rty in Man 363 

North Carolina, Reconstruction Procla- 

inal ion 373 

Northern Democrats as Sepoys 179 

Northern Radicals Deceived as to the 

Control of Negro Votes 8S5 

Northwest, its Destiny 60 

Nugent, Lord, Parliamentary Services. 44 
Nullitiers. Inconsistency of, 23. Jack- 

'■ First Bombshell amongst 23 

Nullification, a Colossal Heresy 23 

Laws of 1832 'J 18 



o. 

Oath of Office , 247 

On Assuming the Presidency 

O'Byrne, Major, Provost Guard ... 326 

Odell, Moses I'., Appointed Naval Otli- 

cer at New York 897 

Ogl. ernor, and Illinois Del 

tion Wait on President Johnson.. . 337 
"Oh, Where is the Richmond Conven- 

t on?" lsi 

O'Loghlin, M, Imprisoned for Life ... 

Olustee, Battle of 

Oratory, Styl< I tenden 181, 152 

Douglas 160 

ird .' 16> 

J I 177 

Order of Business, Johnson on 58, o'J 

Orego i, I 87. Adjustment of, 

3-. Knocking for Admission 58 

/ Orr, J. L 221 

"Ossian," a Favorite with Napoleon I 21 
' Our Living Representative Men ".17, 155 



r.icc 



p. 



Pacific Railroad Bill. 58. Amendments 
to by Davis. Wilson. Bell. Doolittle, 
etc., 125. Johnson Diffei 
Democratic Pa o Speech 
on. 120. As a War . 127. 
As a Defense for Cs . . 128. """ 
Johnson Favors the 
the Proji ct to . 129. 
Futile Attempt to make i tPl 
in the Democratic Platform 
Double Yi. v s Expn ssed by Bu- 
chanan, lb. Supported l»v Brode- 
rick. 131. Asa B.md of Onion, 148. 
Sustained by Seward, 163. i 
Favors ' 173 

Paducah, Affairs at 306 

Pakenham, Mr.. British Minister, Re- 
buked by his Government 88 

Palm Sunday, Lee Surrenders 323 

Palmer, ('., Describes a Visit to Pre 

• Johnson 407 

Pardon Seekers, President Burrounded 
by. 897. Sharp Rebukes to 

Parker. Governor of New Jersey 840 

Parkhurst, Colonel, of Ninth Michigan, 
265. At the first Battle of Mur- 

freesboro 270 

Parties, only Two — one ofPatriots, one 

of Traitors 2S3 

Parsons. L. K.. Appointed Provisional 

Governor of Alabama 

Parton, James, •• Life of Jackson " 23 

Party Leaders in the United Sta1 

Senate 150 

Party Politics in the Southwest 4S 

Pariy. Reading out of 1 

ChristUin, Davis Speech at 172 

'• Pass 1-1 

" Pars n." 1-1 

in 

Paupers, Johnson Oppos< I In- 
crease 04 

. !... Hum", d 390 

Peach Tree < 'reel 

Pendleton. Ceo. 11.. Nominated for Vice- 
President, 301. C pi 

Unknown. 302. Political Position 
of, ib. Favored Sei 

Ivania, Raid into 

orida 194 

Perry, 15. F., 8S8. Appi inted Provisi 

overnor of South Carolina, 88-. 
Account of Reception by Presi- 
dent, 892. On the Position and 
Desires of South Carolina. John- 
son to. See Appendix 8 

Perrym in, J. D 815 

Pcrryville. ICy.. Battle of.... 27s 

Personal Courage of Johnson 43 

Petersburg, Evacuation of. 819 

Bill 57 

Peyton, Bailie 257, 815 

Phillips, D.S 837 

Pierce, Franklin 171 

Pterpont, Governor 2 

rohn 840 

Picken . or, of South Carolina.. 220 



INDEX. 



15 



Pace 

Pickering, Governor, of Oregon 337 

Pinckney, Charles 330 

Pitt 22 

Planters, vs. Military Men 169 

Plymouth, N. C, Rebel Capture of.... 806 

Poland, Spirit of Freedom in 35 

Polk's Election, Clinirman's Allusion 
to, 38. Administration on Oregon 
Boundary, 33. Renews Tyler's 
Proposition, ib. Withdraws it.. 3S, 170 

Polkj William II 257 

Popular Sovereignty, South Committed 

to 19G 

Population, Increase of, Balance with 
Increase of Public Expenditure.. . 123 

Potter, Governor, of 'Mississippi 192 

" Pouters," of Nashville 25S 

Powell, Senator, of Kentucky, his Fears 

of a Dictator 2-12 

Predictions of Johnson's Failure in 

Congress 43 

Prentice, G. I) 235 

Presidency, Unfortunate Ambition of 

Politicians for 115 

President's Message Referred to Select 

Committee. 20(5. Debate on 222 

Presidential Campaign, 1840 29 

Nominees, Johnson Favors their Pre- 
sentation bv the States 130 

Conventions of I860 178 

Nominations, I860 178 

Campaign of 1SC0— Character of 186 

Election of 1-60, Johnson on 239 

Candidates and Canvass of 1S64 801 

" Press." Philadelphia 21S 

Price, Rebel General, Defeated in Mis- 
souri 307 

Pritchard, Colonel, 4th Michigan Cav- 
alry. Captures Jeff. Davis 866 

Private Life, Washington's and Jack- 
son's Iletiracy to 108 

Progress of Union Cause in 1864 807 

Property, Its Protection 67 

Propositions to fill the Presidency in 

Case of Death or Disability 330 

Prescriptive Tests 46 

Protection of Labor. 30 

Protestant Persecutions 35 

Pryor, R. A 204 

Public Lands — Nine Million Quarter 
Sections and Three Million Voters. 53 

Public Opinion in Congress 71 

Pugh, Geo. E., Senator 90 

Pugh, J. L 194 

R. 

"Kail-Splitter and Buffoon" 811 

Ramsay, Senator, Minnesota 828 

Randolph, Edward 880 

Raymond, H. J., 179. History of Lin- 
coln's Administration, 279. Nomi- 
nates Andrew Johnson for Vice- 
President, 2--8. Shows why Dick- 
inson should not be Nominated .... 289 
Reagan, J. 11., Rebel Postmaster, Cap- 
tured 366 

Rebel Secretary of War, Report 303 

Rebel War Debt, Johnson on. See Ap- 
pendix 

34 



Page 

Reconstruction in the Southern States. 878 

Of Mississippi 879 

Of Georgia, Texas and Alabama 888 

In South Carolina 888 

In Florida 392 

Redheifer's Motive Power 168 

Red River Expedition 806 

Refugees from Insurrectionary States 
Address the President. 346. Reply 

to 847 

Regular Army and Volunteers. 100 

Republican Party, Platform of, I860.. . 178 
Resolutions on Retrenchment, by John- 
son 119, 124 

Retrenchment 31 

Instructions to Secretary of Treas- 
ury 41,98,118, 851 

Revenue of a State the State 101 

Revenue, two-thirds of, for Army and 

Navy Departments 103 

Rhea Academy 25 

Rhett, B., 188. Notorious Disunionist, 

191. Apostrophe to the Future 192 

Rice, J. II 340 

Richards, Ezek. Describes Opening of 
Consrress, 201. Notes on Wade's 

Speech 208 

Richmond Convention, Poetical Squib 

on 181 

Richmond. Fall of, 319. Rejoicings at 
Washington, Johnson's Speech on, 

ib. Union Mass Meeting in 407 

Romancist, Material for. 17 

Rosecrans, General, Arrives in Nash- 
ville, 277. Congratulates General 
Negley, ib. Movement on the 
Rebels at Tullahoma and Shelby- 

ville 280 

Rounds, Captain O. C 265 

Rousseau, General 272 

Ruffianism in the Railway 286 

Ruffin, E., Suggests Mode of Southern 
Revolution, 188. Fires the First 
Gun at Sumter, 1S9. Commits Sui- 
cide 189 

Rural Population, the Salt of Society.. 64 
Rust, A 222, 208 

S. 

Sanders, George N., Intercepted Letter 

from, 257. Reward for 353 

Saulsburv, W. A., Senator, at Cincin- 
nati Convention 129, 206 

Savage, John, Sketch of Johnson in 

'•Our Living Representative Men " 17 

Savannah, Fall of. 807 

Scarlet Letter. Yancey's 188 

Schofield, Genera] 307 

Scott. General Winfie'.d, 37. Johnson's 
Tribute to, 107. 108. Enmity of 
Davis to 108. On Davis, ib. Da- 

vis' Desire to Insult 171 

Schurz. Carl. President to 401 

Bcudder, Colonel, Addresses the Shel- 

byviile TJnion Meeting 266 

Seceding States, Cost of to the United 

States 21« 

Beceders from Regular Democratic Con- 
vention Platform 180 



16 



IFDEX. 



Page 
Secession, Constitution Comprehends 

no Kightof 214 

Heresy of 237 

Persecution of Union Men iu Ten- 
nessee 243 

Ladies' Dialogue with Johnson...... 254 

Ladies, " Pouters' 1 in Nashville 258 

Colonial Vassalage to Foreign Mon- 
archy 261 

Its Utter Failure Acknowledged 366 

Secessionists in Nashville 2T4 

Selby, J. J., Johnson Bound Appren- 
tice to 16 

Belf-Eeliance 22 

Senate Chamber, the New, Inaugurated 
with Johnson's Retrenchment Res- 
olution. 120, 121. Secession, 151. 
Night Concluding Lecompton De- 
bate, 158. Ladies Admitted to 
Floor of, 150, 2(11, 202, 204 Groups, 
ib., 205. Closing Scenes of Seces- 
sion Debate, 230. Excitement in 
Galleries — Cheers for Johnson, 232. 
An Era in, 233. Extra Session, af- 
ter Bull Run 241 

Senators, Southern, Qualities of 176 

Seventy-eighth, Pennsylvania, at the 

Defence of Nashville 277 

Seward, William H., Senator and 
Secretary of State, 58. On Army 
Bill, 106. As Leader, 155, 157. 
Sketch of his Career, 164. -'Mis- 
souri Question," ib. His Effect on 
Public Opinion, ib. As a Lawyer, 
16. Governor of New York, 165. 
Measures of Administration, ib. 
Controversy with Governors of 
Virjinia and Georgia Relating to 
Abduction of Slaves, 166. His 
Course in the McLeod Case, ib. 
Resists the Demands of the Brit- 
ish, and the Advice of the Tyler 
Administration, 167. The Advo- 
cate of Freedom Everywhere, ib. 
In the U. S. Senate, ib. Against 
Compromises, ib. Faith in Pro- 
gress, ib. Action on Homestead 
Bill, Pacific Railroad, U. S. Courts, 
Lecompton English Bill, 163. Char- 
acter of his Eloquence, ib. Roch- 
ester Speech, 174. Compliment to 
Johnson, 222. Concession Proposi- 
tion in 1361, 223. Desperate At- 
tempt to Assassinate him. 325. 
Visits President Johnson, 369. Ref- 
erences 70, 150, 203 

Sharkey, "William M„ Appointed Pro- 
visional Governor of Mississippi, 
379, 399. Movement to Organize 
State Militia, 401. President to.. . 402 
Sbelbyville, Tenn., Union Meeting at.. 266 

Rosecran's Moves on 2S0 

Sheridan, Brinsley 21 

Sheridan. General P. H., Shenandoah 
Campaign, 306, 323. Assigned to 
Command West of the Mississippi, 

867. His Cavalry Reviewed 363 

Sherman, General W. T., Relieves 
Buruside at Knoxville, 2S1. At- 
lanta Campaign, 306, 323. His Arm- 



Page 
istice with Joe Johnston, 350. Sur- 
render of Joe Johnston to, 351. 

His Command Reviewed 868 

Sherman, Roger Go 

Shields, J., Senator, Compliment to 

Johnson on Retrenchment 121, 150 

Shiloh, Battle of 255 

Sickles, D. E 137 

Sige], General 8u6 

Sixty-ninth, Ohio, at the Defence of 

Nashville 277 

Simmons. J. F., Senator It 9, 202 

Sirwell, Colonel, 7Stu Pennsylvania.. . 
Slaughter, J. S. Yancey's Letter to, 1SS. 

Suicide of 1S9 

Slave Dealer's Pardon Refused by John- 
son 835 

Slave owners and Operations in South 

Carolina , 70 

Slave Power, its Representation in 

Congress, Johnson on 140, 141 

Slavery Question, Review of Johnson's 

Position on 189 

Slavery an Element of Weakness to the 

South 141 

Slaves and Slavery 240 

Slidell, Hon. J., of Louisiana, 60, 150, 

175 224 

Sloan, Samuel 341 

Slocum, Major-General, Order on Mis- 
sissippi Militia, 401. President to. 402 

Smith, General A. J 306 

Smith, Kirby, Surrender of 369 

Smith, William 360 

Smithsonian Fund 41 

South Carolina, Sends Memminger to 

Richmond to Induce Disunion 183 

To Involve all the States in Common 

Ruin 193 

Leads the Secession 199, 200 

Her Predicament? 215, 216 

Action in 220 

Proclaimed Free by Governor Pickens 220 
Commissioners from, to Washington. 221 

Johnson on her Designs 201 

Rights of Man in 261 

Reconstruction in 3S8 

Town Meetings for Reconstruction in 392 
Southern Institutions, the War not on. 244 
Southern Men not Satisfied with John- 
son's Support of Slavery 139 

Southern Rights within the Union 218 

"Southern Rights" 261 

Spangler, Edward, Imprisoned for Six 

Years 390 

Speculators, Disloyal, Sneer at John- 
son 22 

Speeches, Johnson most Impressed 

by 14,21, 22 

Speed, James, Attorney General, 327, 
823. On the Trial of Assassination 
Conspirators by Military Tribunal. S95 
Spence, William, Presides at Union 1 )e- 
monstration, Murfreesboro' ...263, 264 

" Spirit of the South" 191 

Spottsylvnnia C. II. Occupied 307 

Spratt, L. W 193 

Standing Army, States Prohibited from 

Keeping 10 

Stanley, Colonel 376 



INDEX. 



17 



Page 
Stanton, E. M., Attorney General. 222. 
Secretary of War, 327. Dispatch 
from, 35i. Order Remitting Mili- 
tary Sentences 369 

Star of the West, Supply Ship for Som- 

ter 221 

"Star Spangled Banner" 201 

State Government, to be Restored 

through the People 385 

State Sovereignty, Douglas the Cham- 
pion of ^ 60 

States, Rights of 23S 

States, Southern, Threaten New York.. Ib6 
"States" Washington, 154, 1S1. Yan- 
cey Replies to 190, 203, 208 

Stearns, G. L., Report of Interview 

with President. See Appendix. 
Stephens, A. H., 155. Elected "Vice- 
President of Confederate States" 
222. Cannot Answer his own Un- 
ion Speech, 25s. His Reason for 
Seceding, ib. A Prisoner, 366. Re- 
leased. See Appendix. 
Stephenson, Matthew, Whig Politician, 
25. Thrown on the Defensive, 26. 

Defeated by Johnson 26 

Stevens, Thaddeus, of Pennsylvania, 
Vehemently Resists the Admis- 
sion of Delegates from Tennessee 
and Louisiana to the Union Con- 
vention 286, 341 

Stewart, A., of Pennsylvania 30 

Stewart, A. T 841 

Stewart, C. B„ Notes of a Conversation 

with Douglas 162 

Stewart. Senator, from Nevada 828 

Stokes, W. B 557 

Btone, Governor, of Iowa, President's 

Policy Indicated by 336 

Stout, L 187 

Stuart, C. E.. Senator 60, 150 

Sumner, C • 150,203 

Sumter, First Gun Fired at 189 

Raisine Old Flag on 350 

Surratt, Mary E., Hanged 890 

Swiss Residents of Washington Ad- 
dress the President, 353. Reply... 354 

T. 

Taking the Oath 258 

Tariff of 1S42 30 

Taxes, Contingent on Tea and Coffee. .. 89 

A Nefarious System of Plunder 81 

Taylor, Dick, Surrender of. 366 

Taylor, James H , 3S4 

Taylor, Miles 209 

Taylor, Moses 841 

Taylor, General Z 107, 167 

Ten Days' Excitement 849 

Tennessee, New Constitution of, 25. In- 
ternal Improvement, 26. Failuro 
of, 27. State Debt, ib. Will not 
be Rebuked by Virginia, 81. Dele- 
gation in the House Vote against 
the Homestead Bill, 86. Johnson's 
Reply to Iverson's Attack on, 111 
Military Record of. ib., 112. " Res- 
olutions." 113. Instruct the Ten- 
nessean Senators, 114. Politics, 115. 
116. Johnson's Resolutions on the 



Page 
Redisricting of, 140. Democracy 
of Nominate Johnson for President 
in 1^60, 147. Votes for A. Johnson, 
197. Faith in Johnson. 229. Ter- 
rorism in, 2S4. People of. Oppose 
a State Secession Convention, 284. 
Governor Harris Calls one, ib. Join 
the Rebels in Secret Session, ib. 
Pretended Submission of Ordinance 
of Secession to Popular Vote, ib. 
Atrocious Terrorism, 235. Military 
Resources of the State Handed 
over to the Rebels, ib. Taxes Lev- 
ied, ib. Union Men Expelled and 
Editors Muzzled, ib. Johnson Hung 
in Effigy, 236. Union Convention, 
ib. Johnson on Affairs in, 239. 
Repudiates Secession, 240. Gallant 
Stand of Union Men in East Ten- 
nessee, ib. Rebel State Govern- 
ment Moves from Nashville to 
Memphis. 249. Sketch of the Past 
and Present Position of, by John- 
son, 250. Rebel Army on her Bor- 
ders, 254. Defamed by Davis, 260. 
People of, in Alabama Prisons, ib. 
Lebanon, Hartsville and Mur- 
freesboro' Captured, 270. East, 
Rebel Persecutions in, 257. Move- 
ment of Rosecrans for the Deliver- 
ance of, 280. Movements from the 
Battle of Murfreesboro' to the 
Complete Rout of the Rebels out of 
the State, 280, el seq. Elections 
held for County Officers. Judges, 
Attorney General, etc., 2S4. Ad- 
mission of Delegation to Union 
Convention, 1864, Reported against, 
290. New York gives her 44 Votes 290 

Terrorism in Tennessee 234 

Texas, Annexation of, 31. The Gate- 
way from Bondage to Freedom, S2. 
Secedes, 222. Reconstruction in.. 383 

Thatcher, Admiral 350 

"The American Speaker," 22. Effect 

on Johnson 20, 21 

The Death Chant of the Rebellion 808 

"The Devils of Temple Bar," a London 

Club 20 

The Flag, Davis' Love for 172 

To bo Nailed under the Cross 247 

The Passage from Bondage to Free- 
dom , 364 

The Presidency 131 

"The Robin Hood," a London Club.... 20 
The Union, Abolished by the "Charles- 
ton Mercury" 191 

Disagreeable for Southerners 193 

Hicher Trusts than the Preservation 

of 193 

"Accursed" 193 

Inseparable in Washington's Belief. . 215 
Can it Maintain Itself against Inter- 
nal Foes 242 

It Cannot be Dissolved 146 

Thirst for Knowledge, Johnson's 15 

Thomas.P. ¥., Secretary of Treasury, Re- 
signs 222 

Thomas, General, Arrives in Nashville, 
222, 274, 307, 323. Rebel Attack on 



18 



IKDEX. 



Page 
for the Chattanooga Road. 281. Des- 
perate Valor of, ib. Pushes the 
Rebels into Georgia 281 

Thompson. J., Secretary of Interior, Re- 
signs, 222. Reward for 355 

Threatened Men Live Long 351 

''Times," London. Critieises Davis 1 Re- 
pudiation Ideas 1T1 

"Times," New York * 20:5 

Tod, Governor, Presides at Democratic 

Convention 208, 179 

Toombs, R., Senator, 100, 187, 150, 160, 
175, 1TC 233 

Toombs' Men and Stephens' Men in 
Georgia 25S, 201 

Trade Restrictions Removed 352, 356 

Further Removal of 3811 

All Removed 383 

Traitors, Johnson Shows what Makes, 
831. Should Suffer, ib. And Trea- 
son, 241. Should Hang, 320, 322. 
To be taught they are Criminals.. . 344 

Trans-Mississippi, Surrender of Rebel 
Forces in 809 

Treason, Made Attractive 200 

The Highest Crime 336 

Tremain, Lyman, 286. Urges Dickin- 
son's Nomination for Vice-Presi- 
dent 2S7 

" Tribune," New York 290 

Truman, B. C., Assistant Provost Mar- 
shal 276, 277 

Tucker, Beverly, Reward for 355 

Turner, Rev. E., Address to the Presi- 
dent on Behalf of Colored Clergy- 
men, 303. Reply to 363 

Tullahouia, Rebel Army Forced to, 279. 
Rosecrans Moves on 2S0 

Tunisian Embassy Received by the 
President. See Appendix. 

Tyler's Administration on the Oregon 
Boundary, 33. Timid Policy of. . . 166 

u. 

Union Citizens Hanged 270 

League of New York, 'Committee 

of. Wait on President 341 

Men Expelled from Tennessee 285 

Paramount to Slavery 143 

Savers, Johnson on 145 

vs. Slavery • 270 

It Cannot be Dissolved 146 

"Union," Washington 171 

United States Government, the Freest 

and Best 321 

Courts, Reorganization Proposed 16S 

Usher, J. P., Secretary of Interior. 327, 307 

V. 

Vattel on Agriculture CI 

Veto of Homestead Bill by President 
Buchanan, 87. Sustained by Davis 
and the South, 90. Pugh and Har- 
lan on 99 

Veto Power, Johnson en, 42. Exercise 

of by tin' Presidents 42 

" Vicar of Wakefield," Read through by 
General Jackson 21 

Vice-Presidency, Johnson Elected to,. 316 
Historical Notice of its Creation, 329. 



Page 
Plans Proposed in the Constitutional 
Convention, 88o. Views of Gover- 
nenr Morris, Madison, Hugh Wil- 
liamson. David Brearley, Elbridge 
(Jerry, Roger Sherman, etc., on, 
380, 581. Dignity and Importance 

of the Office. ..." 832 

Village Demosthenes, the Home of.... 19 

Villages, the Benefit of 65 

Virginia and the Bounty Land. 81. Re- 
buking other States, ib. Threatens 
the Commerce of New York. 106. 
Refuses to Call Disunion Conven- 
tion, 188. Votes for Hunter, 197. 

Deliberates 200 

Volunteers vs. Regular Soldiers, 100. 
Washington in Favor of Volun- 
teers, 103, 104. Elements of, 106. 

Jeff. Davis on— the Material of 105 

Vote on the Homestead Bill of 1S54, 79, 
80. In 1860, 83, 84. To Concur in 
Report of Conference Committee.. 87 

Votes in Electoral College 199 

In Presidential Election, I860 199 

w. 

Wade, B., Senator, 137. 150, Exposi- 
tion of Republican Policy 207, 227 

Walbridge, Hiram 841 

Walker, R. J., Governor of Kansas, 194 
Policy Abandoned by Buchanan.. 195 

Walpole 22 

Wartrace, Tenn., Union Meeting at 267 

Washburne, of Maine 205 

Washburne, of Wisconsin 209 

Washington, bis Youthful Instinct. 21. 
\V r as he a Demagogue? 02. Ap- 
proves the Homestead. 74, 104, 105. 

Enforced the Laws in 1795 215 

Washington. N. C, Rebel Capture of. . . 306 
Wtl.ster, Daniel, 38, 167. Birthday 

Festival , 174 

Weitzel, General G., Entry into Rich- 
mond 319 

Welles. Gideon, Secretary of Navy 327 

•• Whig." the Richmond 2*3 

Whisky Insurrection 103, 104, 214 

White Man to be Emancipated 886 

Wilderness, Battle of the 307 

Wigfall, L. A., Senator, 82, 176, 206, 

207,223 2C1 

Wilkinson, J. D., Senator, Resolutions 
to Expel Jesse D. Bright, 245. See 
Appendix. 

Williams,©. W 384 

Wiliiams.J 315 

Williamson. H 331 

Willis, D., President's Letter to.. 3s* 

Wilson, H., Senator 100, 150 

Wilson. General J. H., Reports Capture 

of Jeff. Davis 366 

Winchester 306 

Winslow.W 209 

Wise, Henry A., 4s. On Lecompton 
1"8. Offers his Services to South 

Carolina 200 

Wisener, Mr., Presides at Union Dem- 
onstration at Columbia, Tenn 26 

Woman, Unsexes herself to be Met as 

Man 262 



IFDEX. 



19 



Page 

Work ing Man. his Mission 18 

Workshop, a Gentleman Heads for the 

Apprentices in 14 

Wood, Fernando, Sympathises with 

Charleston Seeeders 181 

Wool, General .J. E 87 

'■ World," New "York 304 

Wright, J. W., Johnson to 810 

Y. 

Yancey-Breckinridge Ticket 181 

Yancey, A Leading Disunionist, 183. 
Speech in 1S5S, Foreshadowing Dis- 



Page 
ruption, 184, 180. Principal Con- 
spirator, 188. Welcome to Mont- 
gomery Convention, ih. Pro- 
gramme to Precipitate Revolution, 
4b. Speech at Columbia. 8. C. — 
Outline Plan. 1>9. His Ability. 100. 
Speech at Memphis, ib. Replies 
to the Washington States, ib. 
Forms the " Great Southern Party " 

Yates, Senator, of Illinois 328. 837 

Yates, Joseph A 3S4 

Y'outh. Pitt's Atrocity of 22 

Yulce, Hon. D. L., of Florida 60 



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